Parcel lockers near a supermarket and a busy shopping area of Bracknell could be removed after a bid to keep them was soundly rejected.
InPost Parcel lockers were installed near Aldi at the Birch Hill Shopping Centre in Liscombe back in April.
The 80 lockers allow people to send and receive parcels in a convenient way.
But they were installed without planning permission from Bracknell Forest Council, with a neighbour and the town council raising concerns about the parking and noise disturbance caused by their presence.
The lockers are situated in Liscombe on the approach to the shopping area car park, next to double yellow lines that ban parking.
A retrospective application to keep the locker unit was roundly rejected by the council’s planning committee.
Councillor Tina McKenzie-Boyle (Conservative, Crowthorne) said: “I just can’t support this application. They could have, should have found a more suitable site.
“Parking is very risky, and there is disruption to the residents. I can’t possibly support this.”
Agreeing, cllr Jenny Penfold (Labour, Hanworth) said: “There are several sites that Aldi could have looked at and then applied for planning permission in a normal way, rather than building the slab for these and then carrying on building.”
Going further, cllr Tony Virgo (Conservatives, Winkfield & Warfield East) said: “It seems nonsense to me if we put double yellow lines and we accept the fact that people can park on them even if it’s for five minutes. What’s the point? So that’s ridiculous.
“And we see so much through the borough, and frankly, our [parking] enforcement people cannot cope with that.
“So it just encourages bad parking. That’s the first point.
“The second point is this is the second time since I’ve been in this planning committee that Aldi has done a retrospective plan because they did it over air conditioning, and we had a big fight over that, and they didn’t cover it properly, and the noise level was too much.
“So this seems to be a recurring theme with this company, and I just will not support this. I’m afraid it should have been found in a better place. We are encouraging bad parking, madness!”
Planning officer Kevin Lloyd Jones had recommended that the lockers should be kept, arguing that they reduce the need for multiple deliveries to the area, and could generate additional business for the local shops by those collecting and dropping off parcels.
However, that failed to convince councillors, who rejected the retrospective plan at a meeting on Thursday, November 6.
You can view the rejected application by typing reference 25/00281/FUL into the council’s planning portal.
Aldi has been given the opportunity to reply to the claims made by cllr Virgo.
