Problem parking 'turning area into Wacky Races'

A councillor says drivers are not taking notice of double yellow lines

Dastardly drivers are turning an area of Bradford into the Wacky Races, councillors have been told.

They were discussing a section of Toller Lane during a planning meeting, with one saying many motorists "didn't take any notice" of parking restrictions.

During a debate on plans for dropped kerb and new driveway on the street, Conservative councillor Paul Sullivan raised concerns over problem parking, sharing images showing cars parked on double yellow lines.

Referencing the classic 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon, he said: "I know this road very well and driving there is like Wacky Races at the best of times."

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the application was for the excavation of the front garden of 285 Toller Lane to create a parking space.

A dropped kerb would be created on Baslow Grove, near the junction with Toller Lane, to create access to the parking space.

Planning officers had recommended the plans be refused, with highways officers pointing out that there would only be 10ft (3m) from the dropped kerb to the junction of the two roads, whereas a safe distance was typically 50ft (15m).

The application went before the council's district planning panel last week, with a report to members saying: "The proposed development would result in an unsafe and poorly sited means of site ingress and egress located close to the junction of Baslow Grove with Toller Lane.

"The plan would cause severe harm to highways safety."

Some members of the committee pointed out that dropped kerbs had been installed at other homes on Toller Lane without any issue.

But planning officer Andrew Moxon said some of the dropped kerbs in the area had in fact been installed "without authorisation".

When it came to voting, six members of the panel voted to approve the application, against planning officers' recommendations, and five voted to refuse it.

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