A scheme to transform a terraced house into an eight-bedroom shared house on a major road in and out of Bolton has been thrown out.

The plan had meant to turn the home on Tonge Moor Road into a house in multiple occupation for as many as eight people.

But a town hall meeting heard a range of concerned raised about space, parking placed and housing standards.

Cllr Martin Donaghy, of Tonge with the Haulgh, said: “I don’t know much about Doctor Who’s Tardis but I know it is bigger on the inside that it appears to be on the outside and that appears to be the case here.”

A report had at first claimed that the shared house was likely to prompt a “relatively low take up of vehicles".

The plans were refused by Bolton CouncilThe plans were refused by Bolton Council (Image: Bolton Council)

But Cllr Donaghy said the “housing crisis” that had gripped the country meant that the kinds of people living in HMOs had changed, meaning it could not be assumed they would not have cars.

He said that he felt as many as eight people living in the house would put too much pressure on parking places and space in the house itself.

Cllr Donaghy said: “This is sweating the asset to the nth degree!”

The developers had said that Tonge Park was only minutes away, meaning that people would have access to green spaces as well as good transport links.

But Cllr Emily Mort, also of Tonge with the Haulgh, said she was already concerned about traffic and accidents on Tonge Moor Road.

She said: “If we’re going to have eight people living in this property, I don’t think we can expect that no one will be parking or have vehicles.”

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Cllr David Grant, of Horwich South and Blackrod, said he believed the plan showed flaws in how the council dealt with the need for parking spaces all over the borough.

He said: “There is a quick solution to this and that is to replace the maximum parking standards.”

Cllr Grant said he believed that instead minimum parking standards should be applied in plans like these.

The committee members voted to refuse the plans.