Agenda item

Councillors Wayne Bridges, Alan Chapman and Pat Jackson attended the meeting and spoke as Ward Councillors in support of the petition. 

Concerns and suggestions raised at the meeting included the following:

·         Petitioners' previous request in 2012 to park on the island between the shops and Uxbridge Road had been rejected as it had been noted that there were utilities underneath that would need to be accessed.  Since that Petition Hearing, the petition organiser was not aware of any occasions where the utility companies had needed access;

·         Apart from one end which was used to cross Uxbridge Road to get to the school, the island was rarely used by pedestrians;

·         To prevent vehicles from driving off the island straight onto Uxbridge Road, the petitioners suggested that barriers be erected;

·         If the request for parking on the island was rejected, petitioners requested that a stop and shop scheme be introduced on the shop side of the road;

·         Concern was expressed that a car dealer in the parade of shops took vehicles as part exchange and then left them parked outside the shops until there was space available on his premises.  This reduced the number of parking spaces available for customers of the shops;

·         Customers of Enterprise car rental on the other side of Uxbridge Road would often park their vehicles outside the shops and leave them there for long periods; and

·         Letters were provided from local business owners whose businesses had suffered from the lack of available customer parking.  Once such business would be relocating to another area as custom was being lost due to the lack of parking availability.

Councillor Burrows listened to the concerns of the petitioners and responded to the points raised.  He noted that at least five companies had utilities running under the island and that access needed to be taken into account.  Furthermore, barriers were an expensive option and tended to only be used for safety purposes.  As such, Councillor Burrows would not support parking on the island.

The pavement outside the shops was not owned by the Council which meant that ticket machines for a stop and shop scheme could not be located there and that any parking scheme would need to be located on the island side of the road.  A stop and shop scheme had previously been drawn up along these lines.  As petitioners were keen to have the parking on the shop side, Councillor Burrows asked officers to investigate the possibility of implementing this but with the machines either placed on the island or in the small areas on the shop side which were owned by the Council.  Officers would then report back to Councillor Burrows prior to wider consultation taking place.

RESOLVED:  Meeting with the petitioners, the Cabinet Member:

1.            met with petitioners and discussed their concerns about the parking situation in New Broadway Parade, Uxbridge Road.

2.            noted the results of previous consultations with residents and businesses along New Broadway Parade, Uxbridge Road.

3.            asked officers to investigate possible locations for stop and shop ticket machines.

4.            asked officers to add the request to the future Parking Scheme Programme and, when resources permit, to carry out informal consultation with business occupiers and residents of New Broadway to establish if there is sufficient support for the consideration of a “Stop & Shop” scheme.

Reasons for recommendations

To provide the Cabinet Member with additional information to determine if there is potential for the introduction of a controlled parking scheme along New Broadway.

Alternative options considered / risk management 

These will be discussed with petitioners.