Cannock Hospital car park scheme in doubt

Cannock Chase District Council has been looking to extend the car park off Beecroft Road for over a year.

The authority recently submitted a proposal to extend the site from 200 spaces to over 270. The plans included demolishing two bungalows.

But the proposals were defeated by the council's planning committee this week at seven votes to six. Concerns were raised over demolishing homes at a time when the council's housing waiting list stands at over 200.

Further concerns arose over spending a large sum of money on an expansion that many people do not believe is needed.

Labour Councillor George Adamson, the leader of the council, has ruled out shelving the plans for the expansion and has said amended plans will be submitted.

"We are going to resubmit", he said. "The plans for the expansion are needed."

But Conservative Councillor Paul Snape, who sits on the planning committee, does not think the expansion is necessary and has called for the Labour administration to reconsider.

He said: "People on the planning committee, which is majority Labour, voted seven to six to reject the proposals. Not only is it money that the council is looking to save but it is proposing to demolish homes that could be put back into the system to help with the waiting list currently over 1,000.

"It is a double no no. We have other car parks in the town that sit half empty that could be used. It would be healthy to have a small walk."

Asked about the plans for a resubmission, Councillor Snape said: "I wait and see what they bring back to us. Hopefully they will bring it to council and we can talk about it in there."

The proposed expansion, costing around £450,000, was originally due to be done in conjunction with the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust which runs Cannock's hospital. The trust later dropped out of the scheme but the council vowed to continue.