Appeal for layby by pharmacy

PARENTS of young children and carers of the elderly in Ipswich claim they are struggling to get urgent medicine from their pharmacist, due to a lack of parking.

Customers at Delta Pharmacy, Foxhall Road, have appealed to Ipswich Borough Council to allow a layby to be built, so that they can pop in to pick up medical supplies.

But the council has assessed the area and found that a layby would be unsafe, because it is too close to a pelican crossing and a junction.

More than 300 people have signed a petition to urge the council to agree to the request made by pharmacy owner Umesh Patel for the paved area outside his shop to be used for parking.

Mr Patel said that the majority of roads such as Felixstowe Road, Nacton Road and Norwich Road in Ipswich have parking for customers to quickly get to shops.

He said: "If somebody is not well they obviously want somewhere to stop close by. When you look at it there's a whole parade of shops, I think there are nearly 13 businesses. People come from all over the place, Shotley and a few other villages because I have got the prescriptions for them, if they can't park, it works against us."

He also has a brother who owns a newsagent next door to him, who would also benefit from a layby.

Stephen Old , Ipswich Borough Council transportation service manager, said: "It's immediately against the junction of Wellesley Road. We have done an engineering appraisal of that and it says that we can't build it there.

"There's a pelican crossing there and it's very near Wellesley Road. Cars parking in the layby would affect safety – we can't do it."

The council has also looked in to other options such as buying front gardens from nearby residents to create more space for parking, but this was rejected because even if the residents did agree to selling their land the front doorstep would become too high.

Another option still being looked into, is building a layby on the other side of the Foxhall Road.