Homes plan for ‘dangerous’ Oswestry Road comes under fire

Plans have been lodged with Shropshire Council for seven houses and a block of three flats to be built on land to the south of Whittington Road, next to the junction with Unicorn Road.

But neighbours say the development would lead to hazardous parking, by adding extra cars to the street and displacing vehicles which are currently parked in rented garages on the application site.

Addressing the town council at a planning committee meeting on Wednesday evening, Whittington Road resident Jenny Spreafico said: “It’s not just about the houses that may be built there and the parking that that would involve.

“This site currently houses six or seven cars on average every day.

“When those houses are built we’re not just referring to the spaces that may be required, we’re also referring to the fact that these six or seven cars will then be decanted onto the road.

“That then takes the parking up to the double yellow lines which then means that any additional cars would have problems parking.”

Ms Spreafico said research was needed into the volume and speed of the traffic, parking situation, and possibility of a pedestrian crossing to be included in the plans to improve safety.

Lisa van der Horst, who rents one of the garages, said: “Where on earth are we going to put our cars? There is going to be such a build up on that main road that it’s going to be an accident waiting to happen.

Bottlenecked

“We can’t let that happen. It is dangerous and it will be even more dangerous when those dwellings are put up.”

Another resident named Sophie, who lives opposite the site, said the 10 proposed properties would most likely mean 20 cars, and with only one parking space per household this would mean 10 more vehicles on the street.

She said the road was already “extremely dangerous,” adding: “There’s been a number of near misses including myself, and there was a very serious accident earlier in the year where a couple were knocked over just crossing the road.

“There are some real concerns about clogging up this road even more than it is currently.”

Town councillors agreed and voted to request that the application be decided by Shropshire Council’s northern planning committee rather than by planning officers.

Councillor Les Maguire said: “It is a bottlenecked area. There has already been one very, very serious accident there with a pedestrian who was knocked over.

“You already get cars parked on the site that was Burbidge’s on the pavement. If you get that further up towards the bridge it’s going to hamper any emergency services getting through.

“It is right that you do get two cars per house, sometimes when the children get older you get three. It’s only going to make what’s already a bad situation worse.”