University and QE parking nightmare

DEAR Editor, I wish to draw your attention to the increasing problem of parked cars on the residential roads of Selly Park, a conservation area.

With the seemingly unchecked development of large student accommodation and the conversion of houses to provide extra bedrooms together with the expansion of Birmingham University and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the roads on the estate are experiencing saturation parking.

In addition, the redevelopment of the former BBC Pebble Mill site with the dental hospital and the Circle private hospital will cause additional problems.

Without question, none of the developments provide any free parking, as the statement is usually made in the planning applications that it is unnecessary, given there is ready access to public transport. Residents in Selly Park know only too well that the opposite is true.

Residents in Edgbaston were experiencing similar problems but an installation of parking on one side only on their roads meant almost overnight the daytime parking crossed Bristol Road and landed in Selly Park. An approach to the Highways Department to provide a similar traffic management scheme met with the expected reply that funds were not available.

Meanwhile, planning applications are approved for yet more developments without any thought given to where the inevitable extra cars will be accommodated.

JB Gale, Selly Park, Birmingham