A ROAD that already has serious traffic and parking problems could get even worse if a planning application to build a new house gets approval, residents fear.
A proposal to build a new three-storey house at Folkestone Road, Harnham, was discussed at a meeting of Salisbury City Council’s planning and transportation committee on Thursday.
Residents object to the proposal on the grounds it will create more problems for a street that already struggles to cope with the volume of vehicles.
The proposed site is in the garden of number 18, where Richard Benham’s father lived for 54 years before he died earlier this year. Mr Benham said he and his family were assured the house and garden would be sold as a family home and not developed, which was his father’s wish.
“My father had lived there a long time, our family lived there. The neighbours are almost the same neighbours as when I lived there, there’s a real community spirit. We wouldn’t want anything to happen there that would upset the neighbours,” he said.
“We wanted to maintain the wish of our father that there wouldn’t be any building there. We were a bit naïve really, we should have had it written in stone.
“To squeeze this house into that little gap is just dreadful. I do feel strongly that it’s completely inappropriate.”
Cllr Patrick Paisey said: “However it’s got to this stage just surprises me. The quest for in-filling can be really overdone and can upset the lives of everybody in that street.”
Several residents also pointed out that the proposal only provides one off-road parking space, which could make parking problems worse if future occupants had more than one car.
Cllr Cheryl Hill said that parking is so tight and the road is so narrow that people sometimes get trapped in their driveways because other cars have parked too close and there is not enough space to swing out.
Cllr John Collier said: “I think this is an absolute disaster. It’s in-fill in a space that clearly isn’t big enough to take it.”
As the street is part of an approved walk to school route, many people are also worried that increased traffic in the street will lead to an accident involving schoolchildren.
The committee voted unanimously to strongly object to the application and it will go before Wiltshire Council’s southern area planning committee in November.
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