Fears of matchday traffic chaos after planning permission granted for new houses at Featherstone Rovers

The car park at Featherstone Rovers. Picture by Google

People living near Featherstone Rovers’ ground are worried that plans to build new homes on a car park by the stadium will cause problems when the club plays at home.

Outline planning permission has been granted for four homes on Post Office Road by the ground.

Residents lodged objections to the plan on Wakefield Council’s planning portal.

They said that traffic is likely to be severe on matchday, local infrastructure is already overwhelmed and the proposed development would make access for emergency service vehicles difficult.

One resident who opposed the plan said: “We already have trouble on match days with cars and buses blocking the access at the bottom from railway terrace, with cars sent up by the stewards and parking anywhere, blocking us in.

“This happens every match day, if we get blocked in how do emergency services gain access to our houses if needed?”

Another said: “A bottleneck is created every time there is any sporting event – live or on screen – already. The current road layout is a nuisance in itself and would only be made worse if development is granted.”

A further commenter, in support of the application, said: “My view is that, this development will cause only a small transference of parking, and that will be only on match days, which is once every two weeks, just during the rugby season. It should be noted that the football club, AFC Wakefield, is not playing at the stadium next season.”

A report by Wakefield Council notes that housing “density” proposed for the area exceeds what is considered ideal.

But it says: “In a high density area, it is considered that an additional four dwellings could be designed so as to fit with the character of the area and ensure that suitable distances to existing residential properties are met.

“Therefore, given the site constraints and the small scale of the development, the level of housing density is considered acceptable in this instance.”

It accepts there would be additional noise and fewer car parking spaces available on matchdays, but downplayed the concern because matches would be limited to once a fortnight and only during the rugby league season.

The plan was recommended for approval.