Design blamed for food waste pileup in Cheltenham cul-de-sac
BADLY designed roads for parking are being blamed by council bosses for rubbish being left uncollected in a Cheltenham street for eight weeks.
Highways bosses insisted that pressure from developers to build more houses had left Sotherby Road with roads too narrow for waste vehicles.
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rubbish service: Residents Alix and Ally Farmer with Ann Offer
And they claimed that their pleas four years ago to Taylor Wimpey to ensure the spaces were wider were ignored.
Residents in the Hester's Way cul-de-sac have not had their recycling and green waste collected for eight weeks.
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A complaint was lodged with Cheltenham Borough Council about the lack of collections.
A spokesman for the borough said there were major problems getting into Sotherby Drive and nearby Pinewood Drive.
She said: "Our operations team, Ubico Ltd, have major issues accessing both Sotherby Drive and Pinewood Drive due to parked cars blocking the way for our recycle and refuse collection vehicles.
"We have recently transferred collections onto smaller, narrower vehicles wherever this is operationally possible, which give us a better chance of gaining access and making collections on the designated days.
"We have been in contact with the residents following the most recent problems and we will do all that we can to get regular collections going again as soon as the snow lifts."
Gloucestershire Highways area manager Chris Riley said there had been arguments with developers when the site was being built.
He said the design had been agreed by Cheltenham Highways Development Co-ordination team, but there was pressure on developers to build higher density housing sites.
Warnings had been given that the site would not be adopted by the authorities if it did not meet their requirements, he added.
"Our highways development management team always insist on adequate levels of parking as they know from bitter experience that the reduction in car parking spaces does not decrease car ownership," he said.
"We are now working with the borough council and the developer to progress the adoption of the site."
One resident, Ann Offer, 42, said she had been told by the borough council that it would be Saturday before the rubbish was collected.
She added: "We have had problems with parking. The developers should have done something about it before."
Nobody from Wimpey Taylor was available for comment.
2 Comments
by Matt1006
Wednesday, January 23 2013, 10:29AM
“Beat me to it, Andy. This should have been picked up through the consultation stages of the planning application. Highways are always consulted.
Seems the main issue is parked vehicles blocking access for larger vehicles - so another example of a newish development having inadequate off-road parking provision (as mentioned in the article), as dictated by planning guidelines. The planners blindly stick to the off-road parking guidelines, and force developers to not exceed the maximum permitted designated parking spaces. But neither the planners nor the developers have any control on the number of vehicles on a development once it's complete, and this is one of the issues that can then result.
What happens if (when?) the larger vehicle trying to get through is a fire engine, or an ambulance?
Chris Riley is quoted as saying "Our highways development management team always insist on adequate levels of parking as they know from bitter experience that the reduction in car parking spaces does not decrease car ownership." Exactly, Mr. Riley. About time you realized that the "adequate levels of parking" as stipulated in the guidance is not sufficient - how many developments built in the last 10 or so years are now blighted by cars parked all over the place, because the amount of formal off-road parking is totally inadequate?”
by AndyPrestbury
Wednesday, January 23 2013, 9:32AM
“So the council are blaming the developers for this. Did the developers build this site without planning approval then?”