A councillor has raised concerns about a “horrendous” parking issue near to where a house was extended before it got planning permission.
A house in Holyrood Drive, Rawcliffe, had begun converting the garage into a separate dwelling before it got permission from City of York Council.
A council document states: “The conversion of the garage has already taken place without permission with the original garage door being replaced by a window.”
Cllr Sam Waudby, speaking as a member of the public at a planning hearing yesterday (Wednesday), raised concerns about an increase in parking as a result of “overdevelopment” in the area.
She said: “I’ve had eight residents approach me regarding objections to this, but when they have spoken out they have had eggs thrown at their windows. They’ve had verbal abuse.
“I just want to say that’s why there’s no objections because it is really hard for them.”
Holyrood Drive, Rawcliffe
The original planning was for an annexe, she told the meeting.
“The planning for this clearly states that accommodation will only be occupied and used in conjunction with the occupancy of the main dwelling and should not be used as an independent residents unit.
“How can the council now change the rules?
“Currently there are already so many vehicles at this property and are parked on the pathway causing problems coming out of and entering Conway Close.”
‘It’s not safe’
She added: “It’s like a car park. There’s so many houses now. It’s not safe to come out of Conway Close because they park on the corner.”
Cllr Ian Cuthbertson added: “I’ve put a certain amount of paper through letterboxes in this area and my experience is that parking in this neck of the woods is horrendous and something does need to be done about it.”
Cllr Ian Fisher and Cllr Mark Warters both wanted to question highways officers on Cllr Wardby’s comments about parking and expressed their displeasure that this was not able to occur.
Speaking to a Conway Close resident, the Local Democracy Reporting Service was told that although cars do often park on their road, they do so respectfully.
A resident but not the owner of the house in Holyrood Drive – which is already listed for sale – said “there’s no issue” with parking.
Plans to convert the existing two-storey side annexe to the main house to form a separate dwelling were approved four votes to three, with Cllr Warters, Cllr Fisher, and Cllr Cuthbertson voting to object.