Access to Watling Gate is obtained via to Leys Road, which culminates in a short, narrow track with the Park’s rose garden on one side and the School’s nursery on the other. Currently, cars drive past the nursery to turn round in the House’s drive and park in front of the school. If the house is turned into a business, this problem will be exacerbated, as the plan is to extend the road to cut across the Rose Garden to allow for parking by those people wishing to use the House.
What is left of the Rose Garden will be virtually unusable by the children, but, conversely, if the House was not there, it would be possible to close off the Road before it reaches the school to stop this happening and ask parents to park on the other side of the school, on Frieston Road. The children could then empty out straight into the Park.
It is unclear from the plans where parking for the housing is to be, but the developer has said that it will need accommodation for up to ten to twelve cars. This is bad enough, but, given the fact that the business is unlikely to succeed without a substantially higher footfall, where are the others to park?
The only access to Leys Road is Park Road, which, thanks to the overbuilding taking place, is congested at all hours of the day. This proposal can only take make the problem worse – at least in the short term until it goes bust when the users decide that getting there is just too much effort.