Residents' road rage at street parking scheme
Hexham Courant
Published on 12/05/2006
By HELEN COMPSON
A BARRAGE of complaints greeted the launch of a new traffic management scheme in Corbridge this week.
Residents were furious when the rules governing new parking permits dropped through their letterboxes.
Each household in the centre of the village would be allocated two parking bays, said a letter from Northumberland County Council’s highways department.
But the number plates of the two cars that would use them would have to be registered with the council.
Both parish and county councils were inundated with complaints that the policy didn’t cater for family and friends visiting residents.
Nor did it allow delivery drivers or workman to park outside residents’ properties.
Coun. David Walton said: “There are quite a number of irate residents.“People visiting residents are going to have to park elsewhere in the village and then keep moving their cars every two hours because of new time restrictions.
“The arrangement will also penalise residents who don’t have a car, because they just won’t have a space at all.
“Local businesses are going to be affected as well, because they won’t have a visitors’ parking bay either.”
The new £50,000 traffic management scheme was passed by the county council last August.
The much anticipated scheme, which includes an extension to the one-way system, is aimed at diffusing traffic chaos in the overcrowded village centre.
New ticket machines will herald the introduction of short-term stays on streets surrounding Corbridge Market Place. Meanwhile double and single yellow lines will help clamp down on problem parking areas.
Last year, parish councillors expressed fears that lack of enforcement would undermine the scheme from the very beginning.
And that it could end up introducing little more than an covert tax on locals.
General manager of the county’s highways division David Laux admitted at the time that the resources still had to be found to pay for a traffic warden.
He added that the department was relying on drivers’ honesty to some extent.
Corbridge Parish Council members were worried that the village would end up with a scheme that wasn’t enforced against those who ignored it, but would see honest local residents paying the parking charges.
The county council officer dealing with the issue wasn’t available for comment. However, Corbridge Parish Council chairman Coun. Bill Grigg said he had been assured that the highways department had listened to residents and was keen to resolve the problems.
Published on 12/05/2006
By HELEN COMPSON
A BARRAGE of complaints greeted the launch of a new traffic management scheme in Corbridge this week.
Residents were furious when the rules governing new parking permits dropped through their letterboxes.
Each household in the centre of the village would be allocated two parking bays, said a letter from Northumberland County Council’s highways department.
But the number plates of the two cars that would use them would have to be registered with the council.
Both parish and county councils were inundated with complaints that the policy didn’t cater for family and friends visiting residents.
Nor did it allow delivery drivers or workman to park outside residents’ properties.
Coun. David Walton said: “There are quite a number of irate residents.“People visiting residents are going to have to park elsewhere in the village and then keep moving their cars every two hours because of new time restrictions.
“The arrangement will also penalise residents who don’t have a car, because they just won’t have a space at all.
“Local businesses are going to be affected as well, because they won’t have a visitors’ parking bay either.”
The new £50,000 traffic management scheme was passed by the county council last August.
The much anticipated scheme, which includes an extension to the one-way system, is aimed at diffusing traffic chaos in the overcrowded village centre.
New ticket machines will herald the introduction of short-term stays on streets surrounding Corbridge Market Place. Meanwhile double and single yellow lines will help clamp down on problem parking areas.
Last year, parish councillors expressed fears that lack of enforcement would undermine the scheme from the very beginning.
And that it could end up introducing little more than an covert tax on locals.
General manager of the county’s highways division David Laux admitted at the time that the resources still had to be found to pay for a traffic warden.
He added that the department was relying on drivers’ honesty to some extent.
Corbridge Parish Council members were worried that the village would end up with a scheme that wasn’t enforced against those who ignored it, but would see honest local residents paying the parking charges.
The county council officer dealing with the issue wasn’t available for comment. However, Corbridge Parish Council chairman Coun. Bill Grigg said he had been assured that the highways department had listened to residents and was keen to resolve the problems.
posted by Neil Herron at 11:58 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home