Sainsbury’s in March are hoping it will be third time lucky for their proposed Creek Road car park exit.
At the moment, vehicles can only enter and exit the car park from Mill View, so shoppers often get stuck in traffic leaving the site.
The application says adding an exit 65m to the east of the Creek Road junction on to Creek Road will encourage cars to avoid the Dartford Road/Broad Street junction, reducing congestion in the area.
Sainsbury’s were granted permission for another exit in 2001 and 2006 but Creek Road residents complained it would restrict their parking. Both applications have expired.
A traffic survey on October 10-11 found there are 50 unrestricted spaces available within 330m of the proposed exit. At least nine on-street car spaces were available at any time, Sainsbury’s application says.
The supporting statement says: “Although approximately four on-street unrestricted parking spaces will be lost as a result of the development, the parking beat survey demonstrated that there is sufficient parking spaces.
“At any one time, there would be at least seven available car parking spaces after building the new exit.
“It could therefore be concluded that the development would have a negligible impact on local parking.
“The proposal would not have a detrimental impact on the local highway network and the Creek Road/Mill View junction may have improved capacity.
“It is expected that the proposed access will improve driving conditions for Sainsbury’s customers and Mill View traffic.
“Traffic delay may reduce as a result of this proposed improvement and the supermarket would become more attractive to drivers.”
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