10th March 2010

WEYMOUTH: Guest house gets go-ahead despite residents� objections

By Harry Walton

PLANNERS have backed changing a care home into bed and breakfast accommodation despite some concerns about parking.

The scheme will see the Old Manor House in Mill Street, Weymouth, become a guest house with five bedrooms for guests and two more for the owners.

Residents said they were “vehemently opposed” to the idea which they said was “gross overdevelopment in a sensitive location” which could “blight our lives forever”.

They feared parking problems, but members of Weymouth and Portland’s planning and traffic committee disagreed.

Councillor Christine James said: “I cannot really see any grounds for refusing this on parking. Carelessly parked cars are not the council’s responsibility. They are the motorists’.”

She added that she was a driving instructor and all too often parking problems in roads such as this were caused by drivers’ inability to park properly.

But Councillor David Mannings said there were not enough parking spaces and he was against the scheme as was Councillor Mark Tewkesbury who said he shared residents’ concerns.

Councillor Margaret Leicester replied that there would be no more of a car problem if it became a large family home while planning manager Debbie Redding warned members that officers would be unable to sustain a refusal on parking grounds if it went to appeal.

Chairman Councillor Peter Farrell said: “The thrust of this argument is all about parking.

Personally I don’t think we would have a leg to stand on if it went to appeal.”

Mrs James concluded: “We can’t stop people having two, three, four or five cars and we can’t turn something down because people are unable to park in a parking space.”

The meeting then voted 7-2 to approve the scheme, a move to refuse it having been lost 7-2.

WEYMOUTH: Guest house gets go-ahead despite residents� objections

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