Agenda item

Councillor David Yarrow attended the meeting and spoke as a Ward Councillor in support of the petition. 

Concerns and suggestions raised at the meeting included the following:

·         The current parking provision outside the shops was split by a pedestrian crossing and comprised four spaces outside eight shops (including Coopers and Lords Associates) and five spaces outside the other four shops;

·         It was suggested that the estate agents had at least 12 members of staff who all had vehicles that were regularly parked in the spaces outside the shops, thus preventing customers from parking there;

·         The estate agent staff seemed to know when parking enforcement officers were in the area and went out to move their vehicles before they were ticketed.  If they did not get out to their cars quickly enough, they often spoke with the parking enforcement officer who let them buy a ticket from the machine rather than issuing them with a penalty charge notice;

·         The parking spaces were supposed to be for customers using the shops rather than for the staff.  It was suggested that a two hour parking limit would be sufficient for those customers using the laundrette and the hairdressers but that a 'no return within 6 hours' needed to be implemented to resolve the parking issues;

·         Intensive parking enforcement had been undertaken for a week and then the same cars had returned when the frequency reduced;

·         It was noted that the staff from Aaron James never parked in front of the shops and parked their vehicles elsewhere;

·         The petition organiser had parked his motorbike in front of the shops and ithad been moved.  When he approached the staff in one of the estate agencies and asked them whether they had moved it (as one of their vehicles was in the space that the motorbike had been parked in), he had been accused of being racist; and

·         It was suggested that the stop and shop parking facility for the parade was being abused by two or three of the shop owners who treated it as their personal fiefdom.

Councillor Burrows listened to the concerns of the petitioners and responded to the points raised.  He noted that all businesses and households would need to be consulted on any proposed changes to the stop and shop scheme.  However, each business would only be permitted to submit one consultation response.  The Cabinet Member agreed to add the request to the Council's parking programme for further informal consultation but that the options should be agreed between himself and the Ward Councillors before consulting with local businesses and residents.

Councillor Burrows asked officers to speak to parking enforcement to tighten up on their procedures to ensure that there was a zero tolerance approach to parking breaches. 

RESOLVED:  Meeting with the petitioners, the Cabinet Member:

1.      listened to their request to amend the existing "Stop and Shop" parking scheme to prevent motorists from returning to the parking bays within six hours of departing. 

2.      asked officers to add the request to the Council's extensive parking programme for further informal consultation on various options to resolve the current abuse of the parking bays which were to be agreed by the Cabinet Member for Planning, Transportation and Recycling and Ward Councillors before consulting with local businesses and residents.

3.      instructed officers to speak with the manager responsible for parking enforcement to ensure that appropriate enforcement practices were used when patrolling the area.

Reasons for recommendations

To allow the Cabinet Member to discuss with petitioners their concerns and, if appropriate, add their request to the parking schemes programme.

Alternative options considered / risk management 

These will be discussed with petitioners.