End in sight for access row

Residents of a housing estate hope they will finally have a solution to parking problems that have been an issue for 40 years.

Some people on Norwood Gardens, Southwell, cannot use their drives without driving down a grass-lined footpath.

The path leads from Norwood Gardens to the bus stop and turning circle on Lower Kirklington Road.

Eight residents have to drive down the path.

One of them, Mrs Janet Gatehouse, has been working with Nottinghamshire County Council, Newark and Sherwood District Council and Newark and Sherwood Homes to find a solution.

She said: “I think we are getting nearer to the solution. The highways department has drawn up some plans for a road, it is just a case of getting the funding to complete it.

“It is going to cost about £90,000.”

Mrs Gatehouse said they hoped to get money from the county council’s Building Better Communities scheme for the improvements.

Improvements to the turning circle on Lower Kirklington Road could be included in the bid.

Mrs Gatehouse said: “It is not only access to our homes that we want, but an improvement to the area.

“This part of Norwood Gardens is the main pedestrian access to the estate and it looks shabby and unkempt.”

Mrs Gatehouse said because residents had to drive over the grass at all times of the year the area got muddy and looked a mess.

She said: “Everything is filthy. It is so depressing it makes you not want to go home.”

Mrs Gatehouse said the issues residents faced had been discussed many times before but a solution to the problem had not been found.

She said: “About ten or 12 years ago it came up because someone died and it was so muddy they couldn’t get the hearse down so they had to carry his coffin through the mud. Everyone said then something should be done but nothing ever was.

“This time we are not going to stop until something is done.”

Mrs Gatehouse’s neighbour, Hannah Townsend (43) said: “At certain times of the year it gets so muddy we cannot drive down to our houses.”

She thought the area needed to be modernised.

She said: “The houses were built in the 1950s when less people had cars but different parts of the estate have had driveways put in and this area needs to be sorted.”

Southwell Town Council deferred a discussion about funding for the scheme to September’s full council meeting so any other projects could also be considered.

It is looking at ways to reduce the £90,000 cost.

Building Better Communities could cover around £55,000.

The town council chairman, Mr Andy Gregory, said if they bid for the money it could preclude any more bids for the next year.