EAST Cowes has seen a 15.1 per cent increase in cars in the last five years — one of the steepest increases in the country's rural areas.

The top ten rural postcodes showing the biggest increase, across the UK, included East Cowes postcode PO32 at number nine.

In 2014 the postcode had 3,896 cars, but by 2019 the area had 4,484 cars — an increase of 15.1 per cent.

Controversial plans to for up to 165 more houses at Crossways in East Cowes were recently delayed — after members of the Isle of Wight Council's planning committee voted to defer the application until they were provided with more information.

Cllr Karl Love, ward member for East Cowes, said: "We in East Cowes know our roads are crammed to parking capacity and that comes with ever increasing numbers of house building and property development.

"Many families also have more than one car and historic infrastructure and housebuilding never anticipated the explosion of home-owned cars. 

"East Cowes is an important gateway to our Island and yet the IW Council still wants to build and grant planning permissions for more housing developments when we only have one road in and out of our town. 

"This is about capacity, infrastructure and pollution. We should also not be approving more large scale building in an area with sensitive ecology and important connectivity.

"East Cowes does not have the parking capacity or road space to accommodate yet more housing."

With 93 per cent of all postcodes seeing a rise in the number of cars over the period, the areas with the biggest increases in car ownership have been revealed, showing which towns and villages have become difficult for parking and congestion.

Analysis by personal finance research site NimbleFins found there are up to four times as many cars on some residents' streets compared with five years ago.

The Milton Keynes postcode MK14 grew by 97,603 cars between 2014 and 2019, more than any other postcode.

To see the data, go to https://www.nimblefins.co.uk/how-many-more-cars-are-road-where-you-live