Plans to build a block of flats in part of a south Manchester Tesco car park have been thrown out by councillors after hundreds of residents objected. The six-storey building with 75 flats dubbed 'Blackbird Yard' would have been built at the bottom of the car park of Tesco off Parrs Wood Lane in Didsbury.
But more than 200 residents wrote to the council raising concerns about the traffic and parking problems that the build-to-rent development would cause. Speaking at a planning committee meeting on Thursday (July 28), Parrs Wood Avenue resident Simon said it is 'the wrong development in the wrong place'.
He said: "Traffic congestion is a major problem at the Parrs Wood Road junction. It's one of the busiest road junctions in South Manchester and at rush hour there are tailbacks at Wilmslow Road and along Didsbury Road.
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"Building a high-density development like this would have an unacceptable impact on the highway network around the vicinity of the site."
Simon also raised concerns about the lack of parking spaces on the site. Developer Dandara Living said there would be 36 parking spaces for the 75 flats and claimed that most of the new residents would work in the city centre and use public transport.
However, neighbours fear the new residents would still park on their street.
The developer had scaled down the scheme following feedback at a public consultation by removing one storey and 20 apartments – but it would still be taller than the historic clock tower just metres away from the development.
The planning committee accepted the recommendation of town hall officers to refuse permission on the grounds that the high density development does not meet local housing need and it does not have enough parking on the site. Councillors also agreed that the applicant had failed to demonstrate that the development would not have an unacceptable impact to traffic in the area.
The committee considered three other applications which were all approved. This includes unpopular plans for 481 flats off Great Ancoats Street including a 31-storey tower in Port Street which had been knocked back twice before.
Plans for four new townhouses at Paradise Wharf on Ducie Street were also approved despite 37 objections relating to privacy, overlooking and design. An application to install air conditioning for offices within a Grade-II listed stable block in Parrs Wood was also approved at the committee meeting.
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