The first a village knew of plans to demolish garages and replace them with homes was when tenants received letters advising that they should be emptied, it is claimed.

Newark and Sherwood Homes (NSH) wants to demolish 20 garages at Thorpe Close and eight at neighbouring Parkes Close in Coddington.

Speaking at a meeting of Newark and Sherwood District Council planning committee, Linda Cox, of Coddington Parish Council, said residents received notices from NSH instructing them to clear the garages before anyone was notified a planning application was to be submitted.

The application is one of several similar proposals by NSH to replace garages with homes to help meet the need for more social housing.

This application said that out of 28 garages, eight were unoccupied, 17 were let to private tenants and three were let to tenants of NSH.

They would be replaced by two three-bedroom homes and one single-bed home.

Coddington Parish Council held an extraordinary meeting to discuss the application because of the limited time it had to comment ahead of the planning committee meeting.

Linda Cox said 29 people attended and were unanimously opposed, prompting the parish council to object and ask for the application to be deferred for further investigation.

The garages are let by NSH ­— an arm's-length company that manages the district council’s housing stock ­— and of which the council is sole shareholder.

The vice-chairman of the planning committee, Mr Paul Handley, said he failed to see the urgency in dealing with the application.

Committee member Mr Johno Lee, the member for Coddington, said there was a major parking issue in the area that prompted Nottinghamshire County Council to introduce double yellow lines.

He said he was concerned the village could lose its bus service because of difficulties negotiating the roads past parked cars.

He said the bus carrying members of the planning committee for a site visit needed four attempts to get through.

He said there was a waiting list for the garages and described the design of the homes as awful and not in keeping with the rest of the street scene.

'Provide housing to meet the shortfall'

Mr Roger Blaney said the housing waiting list was much longer than the waiting list for a garage.

He said the district council had not asked NSH to provide garages to non-tenants.

“The remit is to provide housing to meet the shortfall that exists in the district,” he said.

“For me the interest is in providing homes for our people to live in rather than garages to keep things in.”

Mr Blaney said, separate to the planning application, he would work to see if land could be provided to widen Thorpe Close and provide parking bays.

Mr Matt Lamb, business manager growth and regeneration, said: “The council is seeking to deliver 335 new affordable homes across the district over a five-year period and the current proposal forms part of this.

“The merits of the scheme have been considered and the application recommended for approval by officers.

“At the planning committee on February 6, members sought further clarification over garage usage, which Newark and Sherwood Homes are currently compiling. The application will likely be determined by members at planning committee on March 6.”

Rebecca Rance, chief executive at NSH, said: “Newark and Sherwood Homes is project-managing the council’s housing development programme to deliver 335 affordable homes.

“As part of our role we wrote to tenants potentially affected by the plans, including those with garages at Thorpe Close and Parkes Close.

“This early letter advised that whilst no action was currently required, should the planning application be successful, those with garages would be given as much notice as possible and contacted regarding next steps.

“Garage licence holders were also offered the opportunity to discuss moving to an alternative available site should they wish. We will be in touch with residents to determine any next steps once a decision has been made by the planning committee.”

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Parking is already 'horrendous'

Karen Green, a council tenant approached by the Advertiser, said some tenants of the garages had already removed belongings, despite the planning application being undetermined.

“This will be detrimental to the community if it goes through,” she said, adding that she understood the need for social housing, having been there herself, but the location was wrong.

“The parking is already horrendous,” she said.

“Thorpe Close floods if there is half-an-hour of rain and I don’t think the drains could cope with the increased development.

“Coddington is a village but all this development is making it a sub-town and the school is already full. There is no guarantee families with children would not be moving here.”

Karen rented one of the garages but relinquished the lease when her family went from having two cars to one.

Another tenant, Karina Jones, is on the waiting list for a garage and said she would use it to park her car in and store her children’s toys.

She had been parking her car partly on her front garden to keep it safe from passing traffic and so it did not cause an obstruction, but said she had been threatened with eviction as it constituted a breach of her tenancy agreement.

She said she complained about parking and, as a result, an area to the back of her property was resurfaced so she could park there.

The area forms part of the planning application for the new homes.

Karina said by resurfacing the area, NSH was conceding there was a parking problem.

“It is a bit of a nightmare to park here with the traffic and the speed vehicles travel at,” she said.

“I am aware of a number of people who use the garages to park their vehicles in safety. They are needed.”

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