Plans for double yellow lines in Pirton dropped after objections from residents
HGVs passing through Pirton during construction in 2018. Picture: Archant - Credit: Archant
Plans to introduce double yellow lines on a road in Pirton have been dropped after objections from residents.
Pirton villagers, who live on a row of 12 cottages on Holwell Road - next to the CALA Homes Elm Tree Farm Estate - were outraged after learning of plans to install double yellow lines outside their properties.
In September, CALA Homes submitted the plans to North Herts District Council, as part of a new Car Park Management Plan at the Elm Tree Estate.
Holwell Road residents were told they would have to park their cars in a new space, and face a walk along a busy road to reach their homes.
Following consultation with Pirton Parish Council, these plans have now been dropped.
Diane Burleigh, vice-chair of the parish council, had called the proposals "an outrage" and "so harmful to the people of the Twelve Apostles".
She said: "Cars coming down Holwell Road will now see a wide road completely free of traffic, and the stopping distance could be very short indeed - it will be almost impossible for people to step out of their houses."
Most Read
- 1 Five teenagers arrested following 'violent disorder' in Stevenage
- 2 Plans for second multi-storey car park at Stevenage's Lister Hospital to help 'better meet demand'
- 3 Car crashes with pedestrian on A602 Stevenage Road
- 4 A1(M) closed in both directions near Letchworth
- 5 Mental health crisis café to open in Stevenage
- 6 Plans approved for former Stevenage bus station site
- 7 £3k thank you to Lister for pregnant wife's bleed on brain care
- 8 Three arrested after cannabis, cash and phones seized
- 9 Award-winning Hitchin nursery celebrates bumper year for staff
- 10 Can you spot your school at Stevenage's Commonwealth Games Day?
A CALA Homes spokesperson said: "CALA Homes has prepared a Car Park Management Plan to support in improving road safety and reducing congestion along Holwell Road.
"As part of the plan submitted to North Herts District Council, CALA has proposed dedicated parking spaces for the residents of 2-24 Holwell Road. An original Car Park Management Plan included the proposal for double yellow lines along Holwell Road, however following consultation with Pirton Parish Council, this has been removed from the proposal."
In response, Councillor Burleigh, said: "The parish council and the community is very pleased that CALA has taken notice of the community's concerns and dropped the idea of double yellow lines from their proposals to meet the planning condition, 'methods to minimise parking on Holwell Road'. We still await hearing from Herts County Council's Highways department which may, of course, still want to insist on them. I trust not.
"This furore need never have arisen if CALA had only spoken to the parish council about how to meet the planning condition earlier."
This is the latest in a series of disputes between Pirton residents and CALA developers, which constructed 78 homes for the Elm Tree Farm site.
In June 2018, CALA won an appeal to bring heavy construction traffic through Holwell Road, after North Herts District Council's planning control committee had three times rejected the request on safety grounds.
