ANGRY residents say "dangerous" parking by builders at the new Weogoran Park housing estate has become such a “nightmare” that it is just a matter of time before there is a serious accident.
Some residents say the issue has become so bad that they haven’t even been able to get into the St Modwen-built estate at times, waiting more than 20 minutes on the busy Whittington Road section of the dual carriageway because traffic has been reduced to one-way in Romney Way, the access road to the site, due to cars parked on both sides of the road.
A Worcester News reporter went out to the site yesterday and found ‘no parking’ signs throughout the estate being ignored by builders' vans and cars, who were spotted parking up and then walking to building sites.
One resident, of Beltex Drive, who did not wish to be named, said: “They park outside mine all day, 7am until 5pm.
“They have blocked me in, and when I've went to ask them to move some have become aggressive.
“It has become a nightmare, around 40 residents have complained about it.
“If they park on the path you can’t get a double buggy through, and when they are parked all four wheels in the road I am blocked in, and there is no space for these heavy goods vehicles to get past.
“A child wouldn’t be seen, there could easily be a serious accident.
“This has been going on since October, we have complained but they don’t want to know.
“You would have thought when they took over the site they planned for parking.”
Another resident in Romney Way, who also wished not to be named, said: “This has been particularly bad this week as they all used to park on the Oak Apple pub’s car park, but of course they can’t use that now so are using these streets.
“Complaints were made to the site manager (on Tuesday) so it has not been as bad today, but they have had to put signs up.”
Some residents in the area are blaming Vistry Partnerships which is building a care home on one of the roads off Romney Way, but others have told us that contractors from St Modwen are also adding to the problems.
Pat Agar, Worcester city councillor for the Nunnery Ward in which Weogoran Park is located, said: “They (the developers) are supposed to have a site plan and traffic management for construction, so if they are not obeying that, it is an issue.
“A traffic management plan is required these days in an application (like Weogoran Park’s).
“I will be contacting the police, the city council planning enforcement and county council highways because they should be doing what the traffic management says, and it sounds like they aren’t obeying that.”
A spokesman for Vistry Partnerships said the care home is due for completion imminently and the first residents are due to move in over the summer.
The spokesman added: "We have been made aware of concerns from local residents regarding unsuitable parking near to the site, and we are working with lead developers St Modwen to swiftly resolve this. We are committed to being a good neighbour whilst construction lasts, and all operatives parking on site have been reminded of their responsibilities. We have also agreed to conduct regular parking reviews throughout the day to make sure the issue does not reoccur.”
A spokesman for St. Modwen Homes said: “Safety is our number one priority and we have addressed these concerns with our own site teams, as well as other partners on the site, to ensure correct parking procedures are being followed.”
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