Marlow’s parking problems to continue as Red Kite take away 34 garages

A Marlow resident has expressed his anger and frustration after a housing association have announced their plans to vacate 34 garages in the town, which will cause more parking problems.

Red Kite Housing Association, who are based in High Wycombe, sent a letter to their tenants at the start of the month which revealed that the garages in Marefield Road will have to be emptied by October 28.

Just interviewed a Marlow resident who has expressed his concern over the soon-to-be closure of these 34 garages, which are owned by a housing association. The closure will worsen Marlow’s ever-growing parking problem. pic.twitter.com/OXz9nnFUyI

— James Richings | Bucks Free Press (@James_BFP) October 8, 2019

This is due to the housing association’s potential plans of having five new houses being built on the site, with Red Kite due to send their planning permission application to Wycombe District Council in December.

The resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the Bucks Free Press: “Where are these 34 vehicles going to go when they lose their garages? That’s my main concern.

“Have Red Kite thought about the community of Marlow?

“I do feel let down by Red Kite because there is no alternative for us. There are no alternative parking spaces in Marlow.

“Also, the loss of the garage will be very distressing as my wife is disabled.

“The distance from our house to the garage isn’t that long of a walk, but without the garage, I might have to put my hazard lights on outside my house, in the middle of a narrow road and help my wife get in and out of the car with her crutches.

“It is not acceptable and it’s something that I think shouldn’t be tolerated.”

In a letter sent to the 34 occupants in the town, it stated that the closure of the garages is part of Red Kite’s plan to provide 375 new homes in the Wycombe District over the next four years, with the potential new houses in Marefield Road being available for ‘market rent and outright sale’.

Red Kite managed to purchase around 6,700 houses from Wycombe District Council in 2011, with the anonymous member of the public revealing he was only had his garage since 2015.

The anonymous member of the public, who is a tenant of Red Kit, has been living in his house since 1997.

He added: "I find it quite strange that we’re being told to give up our garages two months before the planning meeting takes place."

“I’m just concerned that the empty land will give it more weight for their application to go through and I’m also concerned that a surveyor was at the property last week making marks and inspecting the area.

“These are things which have taken place in the background which people are not aware about but thankfully, I noticed the surveyor and asked what they were doing.

“The parking in Marlow will get worse, and maybe to the point where nobody is going to find anywhere to park anymore and more worryingly, cars might get damaged.

“If you keep seeing a strangers car parked outside your house when they are not supposed to, people’s patience might run out.”