HMO plans for Loudwater pub met with parking backlash

The pub, which sits on the junction of Boundary Road and Treadaway Hill in Loudwater, has been empty and boarded up since closing in 2020 after a fall in business accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A proposal by owner Veinard Investments to turn it into a three-storey block of flats was rejected in 2022, but fresh HMO plans – submitted back in August – have been “carefully designed to (prevent) adverse impact on the character and appearance of the area”, according to developers.

The proposed change of use has not been popular with villagers, however – and it appears Buckinghamshire Council’s highways arm is also not convinced by the plan’s outlined parking provision, which an officer said may not meet the local authority’s requirements for shared housing.

Bucks Highways formally objected to the development this week, both on the grounds of the 16 earmarked parking bays not meeting the council threshold of 25 and on the figure itself being an “overinflated” estimation of what the land can provide.

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The planning officer assigned to the application recommended it be refused because it could lead to “additional on-street parking and vehicles reversing onto or off the highway to the detriment of public and highway safety”.

A representative for Chepping Wycombe Parish Council previously objected to the plans on the grounds that present traffic issues could be exacerbated by the arrival of 21 new residents.

And locals John Wilson and Ron Deamer also sounded the alarm over the safety of the area, which they said could be jeopardised by “transient and potentially undocumented” HMO dwellers posing a risk to “general safety and cohesion”.

Mr Wilson added: “The pub symbolised a community gathering point. Its conversion into an HMO could further isolate (villagers), reducing the vibrancy of local interaction.”