The owner of a dance school has spoken out after residents living in streets near her school have accused her of causing a parking 'hell hole'. Natalie Woodgate runs the school out of a former church, and she also owns the Downing Dance Academy which also runs out of the same community hub.
She says she is trying her best to sort out the parking issues that are plaguing the nearby residents. It comes after a row broke out after cars have been left on double yellow lines, Gazette Live reports.
Brian Pugh, who lives on Pritchett Road, is fed up with vehicles lining the streets and parking on the double yellow lines. For Mr Pugh, 67, the situation reached a tipping point over the most recent bank holiday weekend when a dance competition was held.
He said: “I have lived here for over thirty years and it was a bank holiday from hell. It was disgusting.” He went on to add: “These streets are now a convenient car park for her business. She just does things as she chooses with total disregard.
"This was once a very quiet residential area but now it’s a hellhole and if I could move tomorrow I would. There are a lot of people, excuse my language, getting p**sed off now, it’s getting beyond a joke. Something must be done about it.”
However, Mrs Woodgate, wife of former Boro and England defender Jonathan Woodgate, said she was working with residents in the area to solve the issues and had met with a woman who lives on Pritchett Road, and was speaking on behalf of the residents, just last week. Mrs Woodgate said they planned to approach Middlesbrough Council to see whether parking permits could be introduced in the area.
The dance academy owner warned residents it would be a busy bank holiday weekend and also visited one of them on Sunday to let them know she was doing all she could about the parking. Mrs Woodgate added: “I am doing everything that I have been told by the council and the conditions of the planning permission, there is nothing else I can do.
“I have paid £2,000 for the yellow lines on the road, I’ve sorted the white markings, people use the car park. On a weekend when we are having events the parking is an issue. We know this and we have been trying to deal with it.”
Mr Pugh is worried that access to homes along the surrounding roads could prove tricky. He added: “It’s been a nightmare. If an emergency service vehicle needed to get down, they couldn’t, it’s as simple as that. There’s going to be a serious accident at some point.”
Mr Pugh also does not believe the former church is a good fit for the dance studio. He added: “There’s definitely a problem with the drains. This building can’t cope with the amount of people going through it. It stunk out there on Saturday night, it was disgusting.
“On Saturday evening, I had to go out in my dressing gown, because I was ready for bed. Ten past ten and there are two guys at there cleaning the drains out with a machine running, they had been there all afternoon on and off doing this.”
Mrs Woodgate accepts that there is an issue with the drains but said that work was not going on as late as Mr Pugh reported. She added: “We had over 100 children here over the Saturday, Sunday and Monday, all of the toilets got blocked so they were overflowing.
“So we had to get an emergency call out to sort the drains as we needed to use the toilets. They were here from 2pm and they were back and forth trying to sort it otherwise it would have been an absolute mess in here so that needed doing. It didn’t go on until 10pm.
“I left the building at quarter to nine and they were literally just tidying up.” Mr Pugh also complained about the noise levels coming from the dance studio, which he claims go on from early morning until the evening.
He added: “It’s not supposed to start until 9am but they are here every morning at eight or before eight o’clock and finishing most of the time about half-past nine over the bank holiday. My neighbour sat in the garden in the morning and all they could hear was this dance music, this was about 7:30am.”
Yet, Mrs Woodgate said that was untrue as she only ever starts the music at 9am and it does not go on any later than 8:30pm. And that’s only if it is a big event. For smaller competitions, it could finish as early as 4pm on a weekend.
When planning permission was granted in April 2021, the council said that Mrs Woodgate could not open the windows of the dance studio to ensure noise levels were kept low but that was overturned in October 2021. The council’s environmental health department monitored the dance school and concluded that the opening of the windows would not create a “significant increase” in noise levels and disturbance to residents.
Mrs Woodgate said she was trying her best to run a community venue and had invited local residents in for a cup of tea. She added: “I am trying to keep kids off the street. I also have a little church group that comes in just to sit because in lockdown they haven’t seen anyone in nearly two years.
“They literally come in for two hours and they have complained about the parking about them but they all get dropped off because they are elderly.”
Mrs Woodgate is also keen to share the positive work the dance school is doing, which she believes is especially important following the pandemic. She said that children live for the competitions and have come from all over, including as far south as London, to dance at Academy 17.
There was also some positive feedback from those involved in the competition over the bank holiday. One parent said: “Can I just say how lovely it was to bring Rosie to your lovely dance school for the comps. All of the girls were so lovely to her (from all schools). Rosie is deaf so usually wears hearing aids and I never put them in for comps as worried it would be too loud.
“However, on the stage, she still felt the vibrations of her music and every single one of the dance teachers including yourself recognised that her balance was out and helped her off the stage. We had a lovely experience and I just wanted to say thank you.”
Another attendee said: “What a fantastic long weekend spent at the loveliest comp! It was such a pleasure to adjudicate such talented gorgeous dancers! The vibe was amazing! Such a supportive lovely atmosphere!”
