Decision due in row over Darwen alley gates (From Blackburn Citizen)

Decision due in row over Darwen alley gates

2:53pm Tuesday 22nd January 2013 in News

A ROW over whether to install alley gates behind a number of streets in the Whitehall area of Darwen will be resolved on Thursday.

An application was made in October to put up alley gates behind Woodville Terrace, Portland Street, Maria Street, and Alfred Street.

The proposal went before Blackburn with Darwen Council’s planning committee last month and was deferred after councillors said the site was ‘too clean’.

At the time, Whitehall councillor David Foster said it wasn’t for the committee to discuss the cleanliness of the area, merely to decide whether the application complied with planning regulations.

But the plans will be brought back in front of the committee on Thursday, when they have been recommended for approval.

Resident Carl Pinckard, of Portland Street, has objected to the proposals, saying gates would prevent him from parking his car in his backyard. He said: “If you put the gates up I will not be able to park my car in the backyard any more.

“The gates are not needed as I have lived here for 14 years and there is not a problem. The alley is clean most of the time and if the sweeper came up more than once every 10 weeks it would look ace. Please, please, please don’t put up these gates.”