A&G Hand Car Wash and Valeting on Barrack Road in Christchurch could be demolished for flats
A POPULAR car wash in Christchurch could be closed down and demolished to make way for an apartment block.
A&G Hand Car Wash and Valeting, in Barrack Road, has received a host of five-star online reviews from customers, some of whom travel miles to visit.
There are often queues of vehicles waiting to get in – but that could end if developer Rother Properties Ltd is given approval from BCP Council to demolish it.
The company wants to build 34 flats on the site consisting of 28 one-bedroom and six two-bedroom apartments, along with bin and cycle storage.
An outline planning submission described the existing one-storey building at 164-166 Barrack Road as having “no architectural merit”.
It said it also created a “significant amount” of traffic on a “prime transport corridor”.
Rother Properties argued Barrack Road was already “significantly congested”, which the present car wash exacerbates.
The application claimed the new, three-storey development, which will have a fourth storey set back on a corner of the building, will “enhance the street scene by providing high-quality residential dwellings for a mix of occupiers”.
There is no parking provided but, according to the plans, residents will have “excellent” access to public transport, with bus stops outside and the railway station a “short walk away”.
The application has attracted one objection so far with a local resident complaining: “Yet again, an application which will clog the area with more and more cars, and congestion.
"Where is everyone going to park? Where are the spaces in the schools, GP surgeries? Barrack Road is already gridlocked most of the time, preventing emergency service vehicles from getting through.
“Will all the local side roads be able to cope with the extra parking? No, they won’t.
"Many are small properties without off road parking, so existing residents will have to park elsewhere.”
BCP Council is set to make a decision after the deadline for public comments on 1st May. Further details will have to be approved before any work can begin.
