'A short-term bodge': Bridgnorth parking proposal would not work, say councillors

A street-long row of 15 official parking spaces, plus four disabled parking bays, was set to be created along Woodberry Close, following long-standing concerns that emergency vehicles cannot get down the narrow street and residents are simply using the grass and pavement along the street to park, often blocking disabled access.

Plans to cut official parking bays into the grassed area flanking the road, surrounded by bollards to stop cars straying onto the pathways behind, went before Shropshire Council's own south planning committee at Shirehall yesterday – but were sent back as the committee said the scheme "would not work".

John Hurst-Knight, Shropshire councillor for Bridgnorth West, said: "Residents have attended meetings and we have listened to them.

"It's a community safety issue. It's a narrow carriageway and the highway must be clear for emergency vehicles.

"This is our best opportunity to improve the area and, though we looked at other ideas, nothing else was financially viable."

But fellow councillors were not convinced. Councillor Gwilym Butler, for Cleobury Mortimer, said: "I really don't think this is any sort of solution . . . this is a short-term bodge."

He said the disabled bays all together at the end of the street were not close enough to many of the houses to get used.

"This isn't a supermarket. If there are disabled people who actually live there, they will want to park outside where they live."

Councillor Nigel Hartin, for Clun, agreed, saying: "This is just not going to work. It just means people are going to go around the bollards, and you're going to find bollards gone within a week or two.

"If this was any other applicant we might be recommending he takes it back and has a re-think because he'd be throwing away his money," he said.

The council agreed to send the scheme back for officers to explore other alternatives.