NARROW streets in new housing estates in Warwick have drawn fire from councillors at a meeting this week.

A heated debate was sparked in the council chambers on Monday when engineers presented a seemingly uncontroversial report on new design standards for Southern Downs roads.

But the standards proved anything but uniform among the councillors with several, including Mayor Ron Bellingham, blasting the narrowness of some roads built by developers in recent years.

The consensus was that a proposed minimum width of 5.5 metres for a residential street was far too narrow, with Cr Bellingham saying he was concerned about the ability of emergency vehicles to negotiate such streets if cars were parked against the kerb.

He said garbage trucks and delivery vehicles struggled at times to access properties, giving examples in newer areas such as Rodeo Drive.

A number of these streets also feature a "hammerhead" turnaround at the cul-de-sac, of which the mayor was equally critical, saying he "never" wanted to see one again.

Cr Vic Pennisi was right behind Cr Bellingham on the narrowness issue, asking if it would "take a death" before the standards were reviewed.

"As long as I am sitting at this table I will not support narrow streets," Cr Pennisi declared, with officers saying the standards were based on national guidelines.

Councillors were told that small streets could be seen as "shared zones" between vehicles and pedestrians, which also raised eyebrows.

Cr Neil Meiklejohn backed the staff, saying if council went against nationally-adopted road widths they could be open to legal challenges from developers.

Engineering director Peter See said one issue was subdivision of small streets into 10 blocks but duplexes being built later, doubling or tripling the number of residences.

Cr Bellingham summed up the debate by telling the officers, "I don't think we're terribly happy", and that a standard width of 7.5 metres, with two driving lanes and a parking lane would be more acceptable for suburban streets.