Friday 23 December 2011

An update from Cllr William Webb, Chair of Lincolnshire CC Highways Committee

I note the comments made by Cllr Mrs Neal but I am unsure if she is fully aware of the changes we will be making to our parking policy. We received comments from most of the seven district councils suggesting that the criteria for introducing residents parking schemes were too rigid – therefore, we amended this section of the policy to allow more flexibility. The changes were accepted by the Highways Transport and Technology Scrutiny Committee at their meeting on 12 December, and I intend to formally approve the policy, with amendments, early in January. 

Friday 9 December 2011

Latest report in the Peterborough Evening Telegraph....

On Wednesday 7th December the Peterborough Evening Telegraph reported  that the LCC's consultation on a new draft parking policy has generated 133 responses – 66 from Stamford residents requesting new residents parking schemes.

Tuesday 29 November 2011

We are still talking, but is SKDC listening?

After the good news reported in the last post here just over a fortnight ago, a number of activists from across Stamford met and wrote the following letter to Mrs Linda Neal, the Leader of South Kesteven District Council.

Tuesday 15 November 2011

Stamford Updates

Update from LCC Cllr David Brailsford on Monday 14th November:
"Last Thursday, senior LCC Highways officers, a Corporate Director of SKDC, together with cllrs. Webb, Trollopre-Bellew, Hicks and myself spent the morning on a thorough fact finding tour of the areas of greatest concern with regard to the introduction of CPE.

Sunday 30 October 2011

"Residents are reassured over parking plans" reports Stamford Mercury

On Friday 28th October, Stamford Mercury reported:-
Residents have been reassured that they will have somewhere to park if parking wardens are introduced.
Leader of South Kesteven District Council Linda Neal said the district council would look to bring in a residents (sic) parking scheme policy if Lincolnshire County Council takes control of parking powers as planned.

The Stamford Mercury declares its support for Residents' Permits

The Stamford Mercury published the following in its editorial on Friday 28th October 2011

Parking Peril
Parking seems to be an issue for residents in all the main towns in the Mercury area.
With so many families having at least two cars nowadays, finding a spot to leave the car can be a real problem.
In Stamford, double yellow lines have been painted in Cherryholt Road, a residential street near the town centre, where residents used to park.
No one seems to know what lead to the introduction of the yellow lines.
Now it seems residents' parking permits could be on the cards for Stamford town centre. Good news indeed.

Stamford Town Council's view on Residents' Parking

The following letter appeared in the Stamford Mercury on 28th Oct 2011...

"The following recommendations made to Lincolnshire County Council and South Kesteven District Council by Stamford Town Council may be of interest:
  1. All on-street parking for to be limited to two hours (sic), with the exception below.
  2. No designated residents' spaces but town centre residents to be issued with one permit per household on a cost-neutral basis that will allow parking without time limit in any of the on-street spaces.
  3. Yellow lines to be removed from areas where illegal parking has become established and obstruction is minimal (e.g. St Paul's Street, St Leonard's Street). This will generate up to 94 additional on-street spaces around the town.
  4. Town centre workers to be issued with permits on a cost-neutral basis to allow free parking during working hours on the western side of the Cattle Market car park which, apart from Friday afternoons, is empty all week.
These recommendations are or soon will be in the public domain via the Stamford Town Council website/minutes from September meeting.
The problem is, of course, that Stamford Town Council is only empowered to make recommendations concerning parking - implementation (or not) can only emanate from the county and district councils who may decide to ignore them in their entirety.
MAX SAWYER
Stamford town councillor,
Waverley Gardens, Stamford"

The latest from Spalding

Follow this link..

Stamford STARP Leaflet - downloadable copy

The original STARP leaflet can be downloaded from here:- Click here.

Wednesday 26 October 2011

Stamford: The latest from Lincolnshire County Council...

This is the text which is now being sent in reply to all queries:

" The County Council is acutely aware of the concerns of many Stamford residents on the implications of CPE; specifically upon the availability of parking arrangements for residents' cars on the town's streets.
Whilst CPE is the responsibility of Lincolnshire County Council, we intend to work proactively with other agencies who wish to include special arrangements for residents' parking that will become feasible with the introduction of CPE.
The matter was raised with senior officials at the Highways Scrutiny meeting on 24 October.  Subsequently, it was agreed that Cllr Webb, together with LCC Highways officers, will visit the town in an attempt to address the implications of CPE upon residents, businesses, and visitors."

I have also learnt that a meeting involving LCC councillors & officers and SKDC officers has already been set up to take place within the next two weeks to start to take the issue forward. 

Wednesday 19 October 2011

In neighbouring Rutland, residents parking permits are only £15

Close to Stamford, Oakham and Uppingham  in Rutland have residents' parking schemes which cost only £15!

Friday 14 October 2011

Double yellow lines plan in Bourne gets go-ahead

RESIDENTS say they have lost out after a council decided to paint double yellow lines outside their homes.Lincolnshire County Council has approved plans to impose waiting restrictions along both sides of an 86m stretch of Tarragon Way in Bourne.

Thursday 6 October 2011

Making it obvious

Residents’ Permits is a simple proposition and one that shouldn’t have an impact on visitors, trade or businesses. Visitors will still be able to come and go as they do now, parking in the 2 hour slots or in the car parks if they want to stay longer. That won't change. And just because we live here doesn't mean we park our cars on our street all day long. It won't be any different to now in that respect.
There are loads of people in town who live on streets that have restricted parking, and who don't have a driveway or garage etc. When CPE comes in we're going to be penalised for living in the town centre.
And just to point out that there are also residents who will be affected by this change to parking enforcement as visitors to Stamford park on streets without parking restrictions further from the town centre in order to avoid car park fees.
We’re not asking for spaces specifically set aside for residents. We’re wanting to be allowed to park near our homes without having to move our car every two hours.
We’re not expecting it to be free; the council has to administer the permits somehow. But we hope they're not going to make it so expensive that no-one will want to or be able to buy the permits.
And it’s not rocket science to bring such a scheme into fruition. It’s not a new, untested idea – they’re all over the country and there are already two in the county as it is!
I know people drive into town to go to work so we’re not expecting residents to be the only ones who have access to a permit scheme, but we are fighting for residents. (The businesses will have to look after their staff.)
But the County Council seem to be making it complicated and, by passing the buck from County to District and back again it’s their way of washing their hands of it.
“Working for you”, SKDC’s motto isn’t quite ringing true at the moment.

Wednesday 5 October 2011

Residents' Parking in Lincoln

Lincoln has a Residents' Parking Scheme administered by the City Council. This is the one of only two schemes in the entire county and the only one run by a second tier authority.

It costs residents a mere £26 a year.

If you are part of this scheme, or are affected by it, please post a comment to share your experiences with us..

Click here to go to the Lincoln City Council's web pages about the scheme

The view from the east side of Stamford

75 households in St Leonard's Street and Brazenose Lane have indicated their support for the following proposal:

"The Lincolnshire County Council should issue a single permit to each household in St Leonard’s Street and Brasenose Lane that has no access to off-street parking on their property. This permit would exempt the vehicle in which it is displayed from the two-hour parking limit. Any household wishing to have additional permits should be able to purchase them at a reasonable cost."

LCC Policy Update


Questions and Answers from a recent exchange of correspondence with Cllr William Webb, Chair of LCC’s Highways Committee

1. In a letter to a neighbour you stated "...a review of the current policy on residents' parking schemes will be carried out" (i.e. separately from consideration of the current draft Parking Policy which merely refers to an extant Residents' Parking Policy). Am I correct to infer from your reply to me that such a review will not now take place?

Reply: Officers reviewed all of our existing policies before including them in the 'Parking Policy' that we consulted on. This includes our proposals for residents parking schemes which is similar existing policy but modified to take account of CPE. We will of course review all of the comments we have received, as a result of the recent consultation, before deciding on our final policy.


2. Am I correct to infer [from your reply to me] that the LCC is not prepared to endeavour to facilitate Residents' Parking Schemes being put in place before CPE comes into force?

Reply: As mentioned above our current and proposed policy on residents parking schemes is that these would be promoted by District Councils. At the present time there are no proposals by district councils to promote new residents parking schemes in the county so it is unlikely any new schemes will be introduced before or at the same time as Civil Parking Enforcement is introduced. As you may be aware the City of Lincoln Council have implemented a number of resident parking schemes  and we have facilitated these by carrying out the necessary legal processes


3. I notice that you use the phrase "body other than LCC", whereas the Draft Parking Policy document specifically says "District Councils". Is this significant? Are you opening the door for either our Town Council or a community group to take responsibility for Resident's Parking Schemes? 

Reply: I am sorry if I misled you on this; our current policy is that second tier councils would promote schemes.  This of course includes Boston Borough Council and City of Lincoln Council.


4. Whilst I understand that there is no legal imperative for bodies other than the LCC to be involved in the design and control of Residents' Parking Schemes, am I to assume that the LCC is not willing to consider changing its stance on this - and will continue to insist upon such bodies being involved?

Reply: As I explained in 1) above we are suggesting that our current policy on residents parking schemes is retained, however we will only determine our final policy once we have reviewed all of the comments we have received during this consultation.

Monday 26 September 2011

Residents' Parking in Louth

Louth has the only Residents' Parking Scheme in the county which is administered by the County Council. Since its introduction the County Council has changed its policy and says that future schemes must be run by District Councils.
If you are affected by the Louth scheme, please add a comment to share your experiences with us. Thanks.

Residents' Parking in Grantham

We understand that there was once a Resident's Permit Scheme in Grantham, but that it was abandoned as people were unwilling to pay the fee. Is this true?
If you are concerned about this issue in Grantham, please add a comment to tell us more.

Saturday 24 September 2011

The view from the heart of Stamford

We have lived in central Stamford for nearly 30 years and for 25 of those have been pressing for residents' parking, either through neighbourhood groups or by letters to councillors or officers. It seems that the buck has always been passed and no one was prepared to take up the cause. We have survived because of understanding shown by a traffic warden and also the police, but there is considerable hostility from officials whose stance appears to be: "Why did you buy a property without off-street parking if you have a vehicle to park?" Of course, there are hundreds of such properties within central Stamford and many of the owners or tenants have vehicles, because they depend on them for getting to work, visiting relatives, carting children about, trips and holidays. It is extremely expensive to purchase season tickets for long-stay car parks, and where we live is too far from such a car park to make this practicable. Also there is a history of cars being vandalised on these car parks. We have tried to rent a council garage but these, too, are so far away from where we live, that this is simply not an option. In addition, council garages are so small that only the smallest vehicles fit in them at all. There is not enough space to store the bikes that would give a means of getting home from the garage, and besides, this is not officially allowed.

We are told that residents' parking can only be considered as an option once CPE is in force, and even that will require considerable political input. What we are not told is what we are expected to do with our vehicles in the interim. Sell them? Scrap them? Park them somewhere on streets without restricted parking? The cars will not simply disappear! There could be a campaign of everyone simply refusing to pay any fines levied or to refuse payment of council tax until the matter is resolved.

Very important is that the councils involved are made aware of the contribution that residents make to the economy of the towns where they live. If they can park their cars safely near their homes, these people will use the local shops and services on foot, without adding either congestion or pollution to the roads or clogging up car parks. If they have to move their cars elsewhere, they may as well shop out of town or use services in other places. Stamford is a market town with an unusually high number of residents living, and often also working within the historic core or nearby. This contributes to the liveliness, economy and safety of the town centre. However, because of Stamford's historic layout, many of the houses are terraced, front the street and have neither rear access nor gardens at the front or rear. The people in them rely on on-street parking in order to be able to live there, and this is why a residents' parking scheme is overdue, necessary and a top priority to be organised alongside CPE. It is time the substantial number of residents' voices are heard and action taken to give them support.

Friday 23 September 2011

Need for Residents' Parking in Stamford

Stamford Action for Residents' Parking (Starp) is a group of people from different parts of Stamford who have been lobbying for residents' parking - unsuccessfully - for several years. Only Lincoln and Louth seem to have successfully argued the case for residents' parking in the county.

With Civil Parking Enforcement on the horizon we need a means of persuading our county and district councils that they are being unreasonable in refusing to consider our requests for a permit parking scheme. Lincolnshire CC's draft parking policy currently out for consultation doesn't help as it places all the budget burden for running a permit scheme on the district councils (http://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/residents/transport-travel-and-roads/street-services/traffic-management/civil-parking-enforcement/lincolnshire-county-council-parking-policy-draft-consultation/104645.article)

What evidence or arguments really work?
Carol

The current situation in summary...

Enforcement of on-street parking regulations is planned to transfer from the Lincolnshire Police to the Lincolnshire County Council next year.

Lincolnshire County Council is adamant that it will not run any Residents' Parking Schemes - it will only agree to allow schemes to be run by District Councils...

...My own District Council, the SKDC, is not willing to run any Residents' Parking Schemes.

Many residents would like a residents' scheme to operate in their neighbourhood, but nobody seems to be listening.

What is happening elsewhere in Lincolnshire? Please add to the blog to let us know.

I hope this blog will help to take this issue forward across the County

I've started this forum...

..to allow better and easier comunication between all those interested in Residents' Parking in Lincolnshire. I look forward to it becoming a useful forum to help take the issue forward.