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In June, a Government inspector ruled the 18 garages were built too small after the council received complaints that cars would not fit into the space
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Jennett's Park garages may have to be demolished

By Hugh Fort
August 15, 2011

A row of garages built too small to fit cars into could be pulled down unless a better solution can be agreed with residents.

A meeting between homeowners in Jennett’s Park and planning officers from Bracknell Forest Council was held last Tuesday over the future of the garages, which have properties above.

The council has now used enforcement powers to force the developer to solve the problem – with the worse case scenario being the destruction of the properties.

Great Hollands councillor Mary Temperton was at the meeting. She said: “By law the council has now got to enforce its decision.

“Hopefully, the parties involved will come to a solution over this. It’s a real difficult situation for the homeowners.”

The developer also provided other options for residents and the council to consider, however these have not been disclosed.

In June, a Government inspector ruled the 18 garages were built too small after the council received complaints that cars would not fit into the space.

It came after an initial decision by the council to refuse a retrospective planning application from the developer asking for the garages to remain as they are.

The garages are underneath flats in the estate and people would be forced to leave their homes should they have to be demolished and rebuilt.

The planning permission states the garages should be 2.8 metres wide, but, in fact, are only 2.5 metres wide, meaning that many cars could not fit inside.

Vincent Haines, the council’s head of development management, said “The council continues to be in dialogue with the residents of the affected Jennett’s Park properties and is seeking from Persimmon Homes proposals which will ensure adequately-sized parking facilities are provided.”

Ian Menham, managing director of Persimmon Homes Thames Valley, said: “We recently met with Bracknell Forest Council to discuss the potential solutions to move this matter forward.

“We are pleased to hear that the council has now met with residents to discuss these options and we await feedback from them on the outcome of this meeting.”

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Most recent user comments 9 of 9

I am beholden to you Dear Resident,although your distasteful imprecations are most displeasing. Your humble conjecture most certainly does not reflect the constitution and temperament of the quarterage within which you reside, or indeed the preponderance of Bracknell Town itself. Although you have been found lacking with your discourse I wish you well in your search for new unpretentious transportation that will suit your impoverished vehicular depository circumstance.

Timothy Jefferies
19/08/2011 at 12:16

Timothy, the erudite but seemingly forced continued overuse of your obvious extensive vocabulary, although on the face of it is commendable, in this forum it does rather make you sound like a t**t.

Resident's viewpoint
19/08/2011 at 09:29

Incidentally if anyone is still entertaining perturbation regarding the unclad carcass of the effigy that timelessly directs the gaze towards the homesteads from the Roundabout. You will be delighted to be informed that this particular work of craftsmanship was undertaken by Lucy Glendinning and heralds the cognomen of 'Life' and has nothing at all to do with the man 'Jennett' who, until his untimely departure into eternal rest in 2008, was a pioneering Professor of Neurosurgery. That is all.

Timothy Jefferies
16/08/2011 at 20:43

I am in agreement Mr.Mavdo.The perpetrators of this contemptible calibrating jig jangle of a dimensioning dilemma are the arbitrary architects unanswerable to their Pish Posh filly folly. People of Bracknell's Jennets Park, you have no advantage other than to buy smaller Cars, may you all find the model and make that best suits your new homes.

Timothy Jefferies
16/08/2011 at 18:04

I heard on BBC Berkshire this morning that under current legislation, the residents are responsible for meeting the cost of rebuilding the garages, which would be huge considering their houses rest on top of them. I couldn't believe that. Some could potentially lose their homes because they couldn't fund it. People were also saying that the building inspectors who should verify that the properties are built correctly are currently unstaffed in our local councils (possibly because of cost cutting, despite the recent requirements to build vast numbers of houses), so they can't view every property and verify it is ok before people move in and are instead doing spot checks. Surely, the council and the builders are therefore jointly responsible and the buyer just bought the property in good faith. The buyers aren't going to measure every single wall to ensure that it matches the plans. If they are forced to pay, they must have a good case for suing the council and/or the builders for not doing their jobs correctly and therefore leaving them vastly out of pocket. These new house builders seem to cut corners like you wouldn't believe. New builds seem to be regularly of a really low quality. After all, if they last 20 years, what comeback would there be?

mavdo, Wokingham
16/08/2011 at 12:00

This sounds lik a very good way of saving fuel by residents having o buy smaller cars to fit into their garages. In Canada many car parks have special parking places for smaller cars which are cheaper to park in. An idea which could usefully be followed over here. Small cars park nose in but larger ones have to park parallel to the curb using two parking places and requiring the purchase of two tickets.