9:16am Thursday 8th May 2008
By Alicia Kelly
PEOPLE living in a traffic-clogged Worcester street have been assured that any major new developments in their neighbourhood must have sufficient parking spaces.
Your Worcester News reported on Wednesday how Worcester Sixth Form College is planning a new block, costing tens of millions of pounds, to cater for up to 500 extra students.
Campaigners living along Spetchley Road say the number of students parking outside their homes is already making the road dangerous and higher numbers will make the problem worse.
But Worcester City Council's senior planning officer Alan Coleman said the council has strict rules about the number of parking spaces provided by new developments.
He said: "First we assess the size of the current development and the amount of existing car parking spaces.
"Then we look at the size of the planned extension and come up with a figure for how many extra parking spaces must be provided."
The problem the college faces is that in addition to the council's strict parking requirements, it must also satisfy planners' concerns about the green land where it would like to build the new development.
The area is classified as part of a green network' where almost all construction work is barred.
Meanwhile, members of the Spetchley Road Area Residents Association rec-ently visited the college to present a petition of 100 signatures calling for a ban on students parking in their road. They also want double yellow lines along at least one side of the road - something Worcestershire County Council's highway officers are considering.
Association member Erle Andrews said: "We wanted to protest at the dangerous and excessive parking in Spetchley Road, particularly by students from the sixth form college.
"It contributed to a recent road accident and we are concerned more serious accidents will happen."
However, the college's principal John Tredwell said he was powerless to ban students from parking along Spetchley Road because they were not doing anything illegal.
He said: "We discourage them and we point out the difficulties they cause but we can't police a ban and we can't stop it.
Mr Tredwell said public transport was poor and students had told him buses were often late, unreliable and took circuitous routes to the college. He has written to Worcester City Council to ask if a compromise could be reached regarding the extra parking spaces.
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