“Horrendous” parking near house that extended before getting planning permission as residents’ houses “egged”

A house in Holyrood Drive, Rawcliffe, had begun converting the garage into a separate dwelling before it permission from the 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.”

But coun Sam Waudby, speaking as a member of the public at a planning hearing on September 13, has raised concerns about an increase in parking in the area as a result of “overdevelopment.”

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.

“The original planning was for an annexe.

“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.”

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.”

Coun 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.”

Coun Ian Fisher and coun Mark Warters both wanted to question highways officers on coun 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 coun Warters, coun Fisher, and coun Cuthbertson voting to object.