Formation of a vehicle access

Appeal Decision Site visit made on 27 November 2018 by N Thomas MA MRTPI an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State Decision date: 10th December 2018 Appeal Ref: APP/L5240/D/18/3211227 312 Mitcham Road, Croydon CR0 3JN  The appeal is made under section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 against a refusal to grant planning permission.  The appeal is made by Mr Sudheesh Sivaraj against the decision of the Council of the London Borough of Croydon.  The application Ref 18/03364/HSE, dated 5 July 2018, was refused by notice dated 3 September 2018.  The development proposed is the formation of a vehicle access. Decision 1. The appeal is dismissed. Main Issue 2. The main issue is the effect on highway safety. Reasons 3. The site is a mid-terrace house with a hard surfaced front garden which is used for parking, although it does not benefit from a dropped kerb. It is located on a wide and straight section of Mitcham Road, a main road and bus route with a designated cycle route on both sides of the carriage way. There is insufficient space within the appeal site for vehicles to turn round, requiring manoeuvring on or off the site in a reverse gear. I saw on my site visit that unrestricted roadside parking to the north west of the proposed access significantly impedes visibility. 4. At the time of my site visit, which was mid-morning on a weekday, Mitcham Road received a constant flow of traffic. While this is a snap shot of highway conditions, it would be reasonable to assume that the level of traffic would increase at peak hours. I observed that road conditions allow traffic to travel at such a speed as to make manoeuvring a vehicle onto and off the front garden, with restricted visibility, hazardous to vehicles travelling along this road. Furthermore, in this situation manoeuvring across the footway in a reverse gear would create additional hazards for pedestrians. 5. I acknowledge that there are existing dropped kerbs on Mitcham Road, some of which benefit from planning permission. I have had regard to these and to a recently allowed appeal (reference APP/L5240/W/18/3194094) at 254 Mitcham Road, which I have also visited. However, I found that the circumstances of the sites differ, due to the number of existing crossovers close to No 254 and the proximity of a signalised pedestrian crossing. I have therefore considered Appeal Decision APP/L5240/D/18/3211227 2 the appeal on its own merits. I also appreciate that off street parking would be preferable in terms of security and convenience. These matters would not outweigh the harm identified with respect to highway safety. 6. For the above reasons, the formation of a vehicle access would be detrimental to highway safety. The proposal would therefore conflict with Policy DM30 of Croydon Local Plan 2018 which seeks, amongst other things, to ensure that highway safety is not compromised by the provision of car parking, including off street parking. Conclusion 7. For the reasons given above and having regard to all other matters raised, I conclude that the appeal should be dismissed. N Thomas INSPECTOR