The Car Park - Part 2

A month or so ago I wrote about the closure of the Westgate car park which is adjacent to Rose Cottage Dental Practice - you can read that post here.

The council had told us that, after the mandatory 8 week consultation period, they would give us a decision no later than last Wednesday, the 12th of June. Wednesday came and went with no word from them (what a surprise!) so we got in contact to find out what was happening.

According to their email, late on Tuesday the 11th one of the councillors decided that the decision to knock down the unsafe building needed more discussion. Apparently the 8 weeks hadn't been enough for them to have this thought. The decision was therefore delayed until the next meeting of the planning committee which, due to the general election, will be held on the 9th of July!

Needless to say I am furious. We have a builder, scaffolder, asbestos remover etc. all ready to go, but due to council beaurocracy and delays, the car park will have been closed for over 3 months! This on top of forcing the closure of the car park on Southgate cannot be good for Sleaford! We have cooperated every step of the way, even having an ecological survey to check there were no bats, white clawed crayfish or other endangered wildlife. There is no discussion that the building needs to come down, so why can't we get on with it?

Many of our patients have limited mobility and have found it really difficult to get in to the practice over recent months, and some of our staff are having to park some distance away.

You can find the application on the planning portal here. You can also contact the Ward Councillor Ann Mear here. You may also wish to remember this at the ballot box in the future.

I will keep you updated on this blog, so come back regularly for more information as I receive it.