Housing set to replace garage

Posted on March 14, 2006

The pumps look set to run dry at Eaton Bray's only petrol station after a plan to build eight houses on the High Street site was announced.

But people living near the Roebuck Garage fear that the three-storey development will not only overshadow their homes but dominate the entire village skyline.

A group of residents attended the March meeting of Eaton Bray Parish Council, to meet the scheme's applicant, Nick Janes, and voice their concerns.

The plan in the pipeline would see the entire site, garage and outbuildings replaced with two detached houses on the High Street frontage with a terrace of six homes and an access road at the rear of the site.

But protesters say the development will add more congestion to the narrow High Street, provides insufficient parking spaces, and would result in loss of privacy with nearby cottages overlooked. They are also concerned that the visual height will blight the area and that emergency vehicles will be unable to reach the new homes through a narrow access road.

After hearing from both sides the parish council decided not to object to the scheme but intends to put the fears of the local residents to the district council's planning committee which will decide on the application.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 14 March 2006