Parking concerns lead to plans to convert Oldbury storage rooms into flats being rejected

The planning application asked permission to convert empty storage rooms on the ground floor of Dingle Court in Dingle Street, Oldbury, into three new one-bed flats.

Sandwell Council’s planners turned down the move by Vivek Shah of MS Property Midlands saying the shortfall in parking spaces would add to problems in the already cramped street.

The planning officers also said the outdoor space provided for the residents was “constrained” and would not provide enough space to store bins or bicycles.

Highways officers at Sandwell Council said the plans only included just over half the required parking spaces.

A report from the council outlining the rejection said: “The external space which serves the development is constrained and would not afford adequate amenity area to accommodate bin and cycle storage as well as sufficient off-street parking provision.

“The resultant development would thereby be harmful to the residential amenity of the occupiers of the development and surrounding residents due to the potential for increased on-street parking on the surrounding cramped street network where available spaces are already in short supply.”

The former offices were converted into six flats in the 1990s.

It is not the first time an application for Dingle Street has been reviewed by the council this year.

A controversial plan to convert a house into a children’s home that was rejected over fears it would cause “noise and disturbance” for neighbours was allowed to go ahead earlier this year after Sandwell Council was overruled by government inspectors.

The council rejected a move to convert the home in Dingle Street into a new residential home for up to three children last year saying it was “unsuited for the area” but the owners New Era Residence appealed to the government’s planning inspector in a bid to get the ruling overturned and won.

The government planning inspector disagreed with the council and said the children’s home in the “quiet, suburban area” would create no more noise or disruption than a family home with three children.