CONTROVERSIAL plans for a housing estate in Cockermouth have been approved despite claims that the town is already “overdeveloped” and becoming “one big traffic jam”.

The proposal to demolish a 1970s bungalow to make way for eight three-bedroom homes on St Helen’s Street was approved by councillors at a planning meeting this week.

Alan Smith, who also serves as a ward councillor for Cockermouth at a town and borough council level, claimed that the infrastructure in the town was being “overwhelmed” by traffic.

He said there was “mayhem and chaos” every time there was an event, with the town becoming snarled up for several hours.

However, a meeting of the development panel heard that the county council’s highways department had raised no objection and the estate constituted only a “small-scale development”.

Speaking to the panel, Coun Smith said:  “If there’s a festival or event on, the town is absolutely mired out and this won’t help it at all.

“I was surprised that the county highways have no objection to it.

“That part of down is developed enough. Putting another eight houses on there and 16 car parking will be horrendous.

“They are building and building and building but there’s nothing taken into consideration regarding infrastructure.

“There are kids from All Saints’ School walking down to there twice a week to the swimming baths and they use that side of the road to walk down. And with 16 cars on there, that’s going to make it a health and safety problem for the school.”

But Coun Peter Bales, chairing his penultimate planning meeting, reminded councillors on the panel to focus on this planning application itself not on highways matters.

He said: “This is a planning committee. It’s not highways. Please go to the next highways meeting and give them grief.”

The site is just inside the Conservation Area but Stuart Woodall, of Green Swallow architects, said that it should not really have been included because it is the site of a modern bungalow.

He said that the homes would be built using traditional materials of the area and that the development had already been agreed in principle.

Mr Woodall said that the work would involve the removal of an “unsafe and existing driveway” on the eastern boundary and would also “improve the general appearance” of St Helen’s Street.

A gas and water main running through the site would be maintained as part of the proposal.

Planning chiefs received no objections from county archaeologists or “direct neighbours” to the site, with two responses supporting the plans.

They also received objections from residents who cited loss of privacy, parking issues and the safety of pedestrians among the reasons they felt the application should be turned down.

The Cockermouth Civic Trust had suggested an alternative layout and a traditional window type.

But Mr Woodhall stressed that this was a new building – and the comments from the Trust were merely “advisory”.