More car parking space for church worshippers after plans approved

A church has been given the go ahead by council planners to extend its car park.

The New Life Pentecostal Church in Grosmont Close, off West Dyke Road, Redcar ^[1], applied for permission from Redcar and Cleveland Council ^[2] to add another seven hardstanding parking spaces. The extra spaces are being added by removing a fenced off grassed area to the front of the church and replacing it with environmentally friendly matting which will enable cars to access and exit the new area, while also providing a soak away for rain water.

The council’s development engineers had suggested the “undesirable design” could result in the furthest vehicle spaces potentially being blocked in. However a supporting statement with the application from Pastor Paul Mileham said parking attendants would manage the car parking, while the new spaces were also described by the council’s planning department as meeting its specified requirements.

Mr Mileham wrote: “We have a good working relationship with the local residents adjacent to the church and maintain an agreement that attendees will endeavour not to park on side roads and outside of residents’ premises where possible.”

The parking would only be used for the most part when the church was open for its main meetings on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, so would not be in operation seven days a week.

A planning officer’s report acknowledged that there would be a change in the visual appearance of the site, however there were already a number of parking bays to the front of homes in the area and as such it was not considered to be out of character. The report said that any vehicle manoeuvres would take place on private land and it was not considered there would be an adverse effect on the local highway network with permanent barriers remaining in place between public road and the proposed new area.

References

^{^} Redcar (www.gazettelive.co.uk)
^{^} Redcar and Cleveland Council (www.gazettelive.co.uk)