New development plans with nowhere to park

They have written to the secretary of state for communities and local government to put a halt to new flats being built without parking spaces.

They have told Hazel Blears that the current policy which enables developers to ignore parking when new housing is proposed is leading to more and more cars being squeezed on to existing kerbsides.

Deputy town clerk Glenna Frost said in a letter to Ms Blears: 'With no need for developers to provide parking, the already congested streets are becoming gridlocked with cars parking anywhere even on blind corners and in front of residents' drives.'

This caused concerns about the difficulties it posed to the emergency services trying to reach incidents along the busy roads, she stated.

She commented that the councillors were aware of the government's aim to reduce the use of cars.

'But this initiative is not successful in Bognor as residents still own cars and this is leading to gridlocked streets and frustrated residents,' she stated.

Longford Road resident Kate Collins said: 'The parking situation is absolutely atrocious along this road. It is not getting any better.

'The government policy is so ridiculous because people just don't want to give up their cars.'

She created a parking space on her forecourt when she moved in almost two years ago.

'If I didn't have that, it would be terrible for me,' she explained.

The town council's planning and licensing committee views all planning applications for the Hotham, Orchard, Pevensey and Marine wards. The comments are passed to Arun District Council, which makes the final decision.

Ms Frost said the committee was unhappy with many of the applications it considered.

Its members considered particular streets in the town were at saturation point for parked vehicles. Yet parking was not a consideration to refuse an application.

The situation was worsened by the government's high housing targets.

These saw every available plot being crammed with housing without any increase in parking areas.

Hundreds of flats and bedsit dwellings had been created in the past few years around the town. Few had any parking facilities.

A quick search of Arun District Council's planning database by the Observer showed 108 flats granted planning permission in the past 18 months in just four roads - Spencer Street, Longford Road, London Road and Lennox Street. A further 20 flats in Clifton Road are awaiting a decision.

Ms Frost stated that councillors considered the only solution to the growing problem was for the government's planning rules to insist that parking be provided with every new development.

'Members would also like to see tighter control of planning applications, which ensure brownfield developments (on previously used land) allocate some on-site parking to help alleviate the present parking chaos on the streets of Bognor,' she added.