DEVELOPERS deserve our sympathy. Some more than others, but for many it can be a case of “damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”


Such is the case with plans for the former home for the elderly at Wapley Court, Kelston Close, off Rodford Way in Yate.


The site is a “brown field” site, that is, it has already been built upon and there should be no  objection to a different type of development replacing what was there originally.


However, the area is a notorious accident blackspot , with a number of fatalities in recent years, and substituting 24 multi-purpose houses and flats is bound to increase the number of cars from the site’s previous incarnation as a home for elderly residents.


The application proposes 15 houses and nine flats, which Dodington Parish Council believes is  over-development and cause for concern about the traffic aspects in particular.


And yet, more houses are needed throughout the district and every planning authority has been set stringent targets by the government and must allocate sites to accommodate the increased demand during the next 15 years.


At one time providing parking spaces for just one car per household was imposed on developers.


It did not work, parking in other streets and estates became congested and the roads dangerous.


It is up to the planners to make sure that conditions are imposed that go as far as humanly  possible to keeping residents safe.