Meeting Tonight

7pm tonight at St Joseph’s Parish Centre.

Minutes of the Novembers meeting are attached below.
Appologies for the late update.


Minutes of Meeting held Tuesday 10th November 2009
In Mary Magdelene Church Hall at 7.0pm

Chairman’s Update/Minutes from previous meeting
S Adamson opened the meeting by giving apologies from those unable to attend, especially Amanda through ill health. All at the meeting expressed their sympathy and concern and wished Amanda a speedy recovery.

The meeting was informed of a recent request by Mr Stephen Pickering, Deputy Executive Director of Services, Sunderland Civic Centre to meet with members of the Association to discuss our concerns. Amanda arranged at very short notice for some of our members to attend a meeting at Elizabeth’s house. At this meeting Mr Pickering went through the plans by the council to be put before the resident’s in the near future. The members informed Mr Pickering that although the plans were a vast improvement on those previously, some of the proposals would be unworkable i.e. proposed 400 marked bays for hospital staff in places not used by residents. Mr Pickering agreed to look at the proposals and meet with us again before going public with the consultation in November.

Following discussion the Association members agreed their own “Option 9” to be put to the residents in the form of Leaflets to be put through all doors in the streets affected. The points agreed as follows:-
1. Free permits for residents only parking in all streets surrounding the hospital site with a fixed minimum cost for additional cars.
2. Free visitors permits for unlimited stay by friends, relations, business agents etc.
3. Limited parking provision for non-permit holders for up to two hours per day only.
4. Double yellow lines in all back lanes (residents only parking allowed).
5. All junctions to be kept clear with either bollards or extended double yellow lines from main streets where necessary.
6. NO PERMITS FOR HOSPITAL STAFF. The hospital trust must be made accountable for the ever-increasing car parking problems they have caused over many years and should therefore resolve staff and visitor parking issues themselves.

The members discussed the impact the present situation was causing for local businesses. One local hairdresser had informed she had been forced to close down this week with parking problems for clients being one of the main contributing factors.

The meeting also discussed its concerns about irresponsible and sometimes dangerous parking by Blue Badge holders, who seemed to think they could park anywhere they liked regardless of problems caused to others. How would the new parking plans affect them?

Despite a written appeal to the owner of City Taxis, cabs were still being parked in St Gabriels Avenue, waiting for hospital fares. A letter had also been sent to City Hospitals Trust asking them to talk to City Taxis about this problem as the taxi firm were contracted by them.

Any Other Business
The new road system at Ormonde St/Chester Road junction was causing many problems for the residents of ABC streets down to Jackson Street. The increased traffic and confusion caused by street signs on top of parking problems was causing great distress to the residents.

The meeting agreed the Police should be asked to attend our meeting in order to discuss our concerns over inconsiderate and dangerous parking in our streets.

The meeting closed at 8.35pm
The next meeting to be Tuesday December 8th 7.0pm at St Joseph’s Parish Centre.

Next Meeting: Tuesday 8th December

The next residents' association meeting will take plat at 7pm on Tuesday 8th at St Josephs Parish Centre, Rutland Street. Minutes of the last meeting will be posted here on the blog over the weekend. Everyone welcome.

Thanks for all the comments left on the blog recently regarding the Councils consultation. We are always interested to hear residents views!

Consultation

The Council have sent out the revised plans for a parking scheme in the Hospital area.

They have responded to the main concerns that residents expressed to the initial consultation back in February of this year in that:

• The first permit for each household will be free (second permits are to cost £20).
• There is no need to mark out bays on the roads

Unfortunately, it would appear that in order to provide permits to residents free of charge, the Council are proposing to raise funds for the scheme by selling a number of permits to hospital staff. However, these will be distributed throughout the six zones to reduce the impact in any one area.

The Council are again holding exhibitions on the proposals:

"at St. Gabriel’s Church, St. Gabriel’s Avenue on Monday 30th November 2009. City Council staff will be on hand at between 9am-12noon; 1pm-4pm and 6pm-8pm"

and

"At St Bede United Reformed Church on Thursday 3rd December between the hours of 9am-5pm. Staff will be available to answer any questions and provide further information on the proposal"

"There will also be a seven-day exhibition at Kayll Road Library from Monday 7th December"

The full consultation can be viewed at www.sunderland.gov.uk/traffic

Residents "Option 9"

Following our recent campaign the Council are now putting forward your consideration a revised plan in order to help solve the problems caused by hospital employees and visitors parking in our side streets. You will receive their proposed plans through your door in the very near future followed by a publicity campaign. The council’s previous publicity campaign gave the residents seven options to choose from (all at a cost to the residents). Lee Martin (Conservative) has since put forward his “Option 8”.

The residents want a simple but effective solution to this problem.
The Association members have put together at the following points to be put to the council:

1. Free Permits For Residents only parking in all the streets surrounding the hospital site for first car, with a fixed minimum cost for additional residents cars.

2. Free visitors permits for unlimited stay by friends, relations, business agents etc.

3. Limited parking provision for non-permit holders for up to 2 hours only.

4. Yellow lines in all back lanes (with residents' parking allowed).

5. All junctions to be kept clear with either bollards or extended double yellow lines from main streets where necessary.

6. No permits for hospital staff. The Hospital Trust must be made accountable for the car parking problem they have caused and therefore should resolve staff and visitor parking issues themselves.

Thank you for your continued support.

Meeting: Tuesday 10th

The next Residents' Association meeting will be held tomorrow at 7pm in St Mary Magdelenes Church Hall, Wilson Street.

Discussion will include last weeks meeting with Mr Pickering from the Council and the forthcoming consultation on the parking scheme, including the recent newsletter from Cllr Lee Martin.

Everyone is welcome. If you can't make it to the meetings, the minutes will be posted here on the blog.

Update: Parking Scheme

Members of the Residents' Association committee today met with Mr Steven Pickering, deputy corporate director of City Services, to discuss the issues affecting local residents. Mr Pickering explained how following a reorganisation within the council, his department is taking on responsibility for highways, traffic and parking within the city.

Not surprisingly, the discussion focussed on the hospital area parking issues.

Mr Pickering informed us that the latest proposals for a parking management scheme would be sent out to residents on 23rd November with a consultation event to be held on the 30th of this month. (More information will be published on this blog as soon as possible).

Prior to the meeting we had been informed by a council member that the proposals included a number of points which we raised with Mr Pickering.

Key issues include that in addition to the first permit for each household being free, the charge for second, third, etc. permits should be low e.g. £50 is excessive for a second permit.

Concerns were also voiced over a suggestion that 400 permits could be sold to the hospital, allowing staff to park in residential streets. Mr Pickering was told that this is unacceptable and would simply be encouraging the people who are causing the problems to continue to park without regard for the residents.

It was made clear that allowing parking in back lanes would cause a number of problems, in particular that it creates difficulties for residents moving cars into and out of yards/garages.

Mr Pickering was also told about the increased traffic in the 'ABC streets' and through St Gabriels Estate following the changes to the traffic lights at the junction of Chester Road, Kayll Road and Ormonde Street. It was also highlighted that the additional traffic caused by through traffic as well as people driving around the streets looking for parking was causing large numbers of potholes.

The 'no right turn' signs and road markings have been removed from the entrance to the streets off Chester Road opposite the hospital. We hope that the situation here will be confirmed shortly since many people are confused as to whether right turns are now permitted or not.

The Committee would like to thank Mr Pickering for his time this afternoon and for listening to the concerns of the residents.

BPMRA News

Thanks to all who have sent us comments. The response has been great!

Below are the minutes of the last meeting. The next Resident's Association meeting will be held on Tuesday 10th November at 7pm in St Mary Magelenes Church Hall, Wilson Street. Everyone is welcome.

We understand that at a recent meeting, the council made plans for the next consultation on the parking management scheme. We hope to have further details soon.


BARNES,PALLION & MILLFIELD RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION
Minutes of Meeting held Tuesday 13th October 2009
St Mary Magdelene Church Hall at 7.0pm

Chairman’s Update/Minutes
Amanda opened the meeting by going over the minutes of the previous meeting. It was noted that since a recent correspondence with Mr Phil Barrett, Development and Regeneration Services, he had since taken early retirement. As yet his replacement has not been named. It seems some re-organisation of management is currently taking place at the Civic Centre.

A letter had been sent to P Watson (Leader of the Council) stating the Association’s agreed recommendations to help the proposed further consultation be put more favourably to the residents. A very short letter had been received in reply stating Mr Watson was considering our letter. Following discussion the meeting agreed a letter be sent to Mr Watson requesting a date for the planned further consultation exercise.

A letter had been sent to Ms Carol Harries, Hospital Trust Secretary requesting a further extension in the times for the Park and Ride schemes in order to accommodate the flexible working hours for hospital staff and also to include all visiting times. As yet no reply had been received. An increase of approximately ½ hr had been introduced by the hospital for a trial period of four weeks. The meeting agreed this would not be sufficient. The meeting discussed other options for park and ride including Pallion Retail Park. All agreed the Hospital were still not advertising the scheme enough. The Scheme should be added to all appointment letters and advertised in the local papers. The meeting agreed a letter be sent to Ms Harries requesting more publicity for the Park and Ride scheme.

A letter had also been sent to Mr Watson stating the residents concerns over the new traffic flow system on the junction of Ormonde St/Kayll Rd and Chester Rd. As yet no reply had been received.

The meeting discussed the many problems caused by this new system. Traffic was now backed up all along Chester Road in both directions. The residents of Ewesley Road, Brinkburn St, Greta Tce, Grindon Tce, Abingdon St and Barnard St had noted increased
traffic flow in their already over-parked streets by confused drivers trying to get along to Barnes Park Road. Residents of St Gabriels Estate had noted increased traffic flow on the estate by cars anxious to avoid the lights from both Kayll Road and Chester Road. Pedestrians also had problems in that in order to get along Ormonde Street from Pallion and St Gabriels they now had to negotiate three sets of pedestrian lights.

Another point of concern was the fact that so many cars with disabled badges were parking in dangerous situations. They were regularly seen parked on Kayll Road on double yellow lines between the Kayll Rd/Hylton Road lights and the Hospital entrance forcing the two lane traffic coming along from Pallion Road and Hylton Road to quickly merge into one lane.
Disabled drivers did have the right to park for up to three hours on double yellow lines but they should still be expected to park sensibly without causing danger to others.

Flyers
Susan stated that distribution of flyers asking residents for their comments on the parking situation and new traffic flow system along with any other issues had started. Already some comments had been returned. Maureen had asked the local businesses on Hylton Road toad their comments. All replies received so far had a common theme. Residents were very unhappy and stressed by the fact the new traffic flow system had compounded the problems already caused by hospital parking. The consensus of opinion was that the new traffic flow system was not only unnecessary but potentially very dangerous. It was intended to increase the flyer distribution to include many of the streets in Millfield and Pallion also affected by hospital parking. A suggestion was made that copies of these comments be sent to the Chief Engineer in charge of road planning at the Civic Centre. A suggestion was also made that similar flyers be issued to hospital staff and visitors for their comments also.

Treasurer’s Report
Elizabeth reported she had been advised that we join COMPACT an association formed to provide equal terms for code of practice by the Council. A year forward projection had been requested by the CVS who advised we could apply for a lottery grant in order to help finance our expenses as our association was formed to try to help benefit the community in all aspects including environment.

City Taxis were still causing problems by double parking, sometimes as many a four cars parking beside the garages in St Gabriels Avenue while they are waiting for calls from the hospital with whom they have a contract. Although they were not strictly illegally parked they were exacerbating an already very serious situation by causing major pedestrian obstruction forcing people to walk into the busy road in order to get passed. The meeting agreed a letter be sent to the owner of City Taxis asking him to request his drivers be more considerate. Also a letter to Trust Headquarters as it was their contract with City Taxis which was causing this problem.

Any Other Business
Paul suggested a fund raising event/social evening be organised in order to bring the people in the community together. Mark suggested a competition such as “Greenest Street” would encourage the residents to think about their environment. Linda suggested organising a car-lift scheme for such events to help disabled and elderly people attend.

P Dixon invited representatives from our Association to attend the next meeting of Millfield Residents Association in order to see if we could be of help to each other.

It was pointed out to the meeting that the Council already had some residents parking in streets in Hendon, The Fishermans Cottages at Seaburn and some streets in the old Roker Park area. Following discussion it was agreed that following our example other areas with similar problems could set up their own associations.

The meeting closed at 8.10pm.
Next meeting to be Tuesday 10th November at St Mary Magdelene Church Hall at 7.0pm

Residents Comments

Thanks to everyone who has returned the flyers or emailed us with comments.

All comments on how the traffic changes on Chester road are affecting residents are welcomed. For example, has parking such as that shown here been reduced?

• Have the 'no right turns' reduced traffic in your street or has traffic increased?
• Have you been involved in or witnessed any accidents or near misses as a result?
• Is you journey along Chester Road faster or slower as a result of the changes?

We not only welcome comments on traffic and parking issues such as these, if there is anything else in Barnes, Pallion and Millfield that you feel the Residents' Association may be interested in or may be able to help with please leave a comment on one of these posts by clicking on 'comments' below or email us at bpmra.sunderland@gmail.com. Alternatively, come along to one of our meetings held on the 2nd Tuesday of the month at 7pm. The next meeting is 7pm on Tuesday 10th November in St Mary Magdalene's Church Hall, Wilson Street. Everyone is welcome but if you can't attend, minutes will be posted here on the blog.

All comments can be left anonymously and where your comments are passed to the council your name will not be used. However, please let us know which street you live in or are referring to.

Next Meeting: Tuesday 13th October

Next meeting is at St Mary Magdelenes Church Hall, Wilson Street on Tuesday 13th October at 7pm.

Minutes of the last meeting are posted below.

BARNES,PALLION & MILLFIELD RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION
Minutes of Meeting held 15th September 2009
St Mary Magdelene’s Church Hall at 7.0pm

Chairman’s Update
Amanda opened the meeting by explaining that replies to the letters sent to Councillors and MPs’ (as recorded in the previous months minutes) had been received. Copies of which were distributed to the meeting. Mr KW Bremner, Chief Executive, City Hospitals, Sunderland had replied to Mr Bill Etherington Mp stating that the hospital felt it had taken very reasonable steps to ease the impact of car parking on the residents. The cost of a multi story car park would be very prohibitive and come at the cost of providing other services. He states that a further park and ride from the old forge site would also be provided during the construction of the new ward block.

Both Bill Etherington and Chris Mullin had received a reply from Mr Phil Barrett, Development and Regeneration Services stating that discussions with the Dept of Transport allowed for no marked parking bays with Parking Zone signs in areas for permit holders only. Permits would also be available for visitors of both residents and business. Cabinet approval was given on July 29th for the holding of a further consultation with residents and businesses in the hospital area.

L Ranton had also written to the Prime Minister Gordon Brown but as expected his representatives answer was that he was sure the council would find a solution for us in due course. L Ranton stated that she could keep this representative informed of the council’s progress or not and ask for his further help in intervening with the council if necessary. A copy of the letter could be passed to Paul Watson, Leader of the Council.

The council report had advised visitors permits be for two hours only. This was not acceptable. Cllr Watson during a telephone discussion with Amanda had surmised that a charge of maybe £10 be made for second permits. There was no guarantee this would not increase. P Dixon stated that the hospital would still wish to sell permits to their own staff. S Adamson stated the hospital already issued more car parking permits to their own staff

than parking places available in the grounds of the hospital. There was no guarantee they would not continue to do this with street parking permits also. M Stanger reported that local businesses were not happy as they needed parking places for their staff also. Following discussion the meeting agreed that a letter be sent to Cllr Watson stating that any further public consultation would be doomed if the revised plans they had come up with so far were put to the residents and businesses.

It was pointed out that the Hospital Park and Rides were now starting earlier at 7.40am and finishing later at 5.45pm for a trial period of four weeks in order to see if the staff would find this beneficial. The Park and Rides did not run on Sundays or Bank Holdiays and public transport was also reduced on these days. Millfield metro station was no longer included in the scheme. It was agreed that it would take a lot of persuading for people to give up their cars in favour of park and ride or public transport schemes.

Cllr Cecilia Gofton for Pallion Ward had put letters in all the doors stating that she would call personally at all doors with notices in their windows to answer people’s concerns. Many local residents were still waiting for her to call. A Robinson had spoken to Cllr Gofton who stated she would only talk to people on a one-to-one basis and was not willing to attend our meetings. It was pointed out that neither Cllrs Watson, Gofton or Wilson were available on many occasions at their advertised weekly surgery in Pallion Action Group.

A Robinson showed the meeting flyers for the residents to place under windscreen wipers on cars asking them politely to park with consideration for the feelings of the local residents. Anyone wanting these flyers to contact the secretary.

The meeting discussed the problems caused by the new traffic flow system on Ormonde Street and Chester Road junction. The increase of traffic in the side streets was considerable and the sign posting also caused confusion. The meeting agreed a letter be sent to Cllr Watson stating our concerns.


Any Other Business
P Dixon advised the meeting to write to the Council to ask for a list of numbers envisaged in
Residents parking only. Need a guarantee that hospital permits would be kept to a minimum with reductions each year. Yellow lines should be placed in all back lanes. Local businesses should not have to suffer as they are allowed to load and offload. Businesses should be allowed parking for their customers and should be included in the planned consultation. The revenue required by the council to implement these schemes should be the least consideration as the safety of the residents and pedestrians in these areas was the higher priority. The planned parking meters proposed for Kayll Road should help to offset costs.

It was proposed that flyers be placed through doors of streets affected by the no right turn at Chester Road/Ormonde Street junction asking for their comments. S Adamson agreed to be contact.
At present to leave St Gabriels Estate to gain access to Ormonde Street you either had to drive into Henderson Road and negotiate the parked cars there in order to then turn right onto Kayll Road and then cross Chester Road and go straight on to Ormonde Steet or turn left onto Chester Road, drive down to and turn right into Grindon Terrace then right into General Graham Street then left into Chatsworth Street, (all of whom have their own parking problems because of hospital staff and visitors) right into Cleveland Road and then finally left into Ormonde Street to continue on to the Barnes roundabout. The other alternative is to across to Ewesley Road and then cross both Cleveland Road and Mount Road which already have a lot of school traffic from Barnes School.

Bollards should be requested for the remaining corners on St Gabriels Estate as the cars parked across these were a nightmare for residents. The bollards on Henderson Road which were not wanted were causing their own problems by restricting access from Erith Terrace into Henderson Road.

City Cabs were still causing problems by double and even quadruple parking outside the garages in St Gabriel’s Avenue. Even though they were not obstructing traffic as such they were making it necessary for pedestrians to have to walk into the rood to get past. Maybe the hospital could be asked to help as it was their contract with City Cabs which encouraged the taxis to park near the hospital.

P Dixon handed out leaflets advising residents they could attend Local Area Committee meetings and ask questions directly themselves.

The meeting also agreed that flyers be posted through all the doors advising residents of our progress so far and thanking them for their continued support.

The meeting closed at 8.10pm.

How are the schemes working?

You may have recently had a leaflet from the BPMRA through your door asking for your comments on the changes made to the traffic flows on Chester Road and nearby streets.

Let us know how these changes have affected you.

Have the 'no right turns' reduced traffic in your street or has traffic increased?
Is your street safer?
Have you been involved in or witnessed any accidents or near misses as a result?

Return your comments on the form or email us at bpmra.sunderland@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

The changes are apparently experimental and any information will be passed on to the Council.

We are awaiting the councils consultation on the revised plans for the residents parking scheme in the hospital area. You can find an outline of what is expected to be included in the scheme below.

New Proposals for Parking Scheme

Thank you! It appears that the Council have listened to the residents!

Many of you will be aware of the revised plans for a parking management scheme in the hospital area. The Council have dropped the original eight options which they consulted residents on back in February and are preparing a new consultation on the latest proposals. The Council has held discussions with the Department for Transport who have suggested that special permission can be given for a parking scheme where bays do not have to be marked out on the road. The key points are as follows (you can find the whole report here):

• Parking zones set up where parking is restricted to permit holders only.
• Zones identified by signs at entry points (e.g. at the end of each road entering the zone).
• No need for parking bays allowing parking on both sides of the road so not reducing total amount of parking space.
• Possible marked disabled space for residents who require them -Limited visitor parking bays in areas where road widths allow bays to be marked (e.g. maximum 2 hours parking).
• Restrictions in place in back lanes and at junctions
• Permits available for every household in zones - free for first permit, a charge for the second and charges increasing for further permits if required.
• Visitor permits for each household (whether they have a vehicle/regular permit themselves) allow visitors to residents to park.
• Pay and display on hospital side of Kayll Road.
• A limited number of permits available for hospital staff. The numbers allowed in each zone will be restricted and the total number will be reduced over time.

The report suggests that by using these signed 'gateways', people will be discouraged from driving through the zones looking for parking, thereby reducing the amount of traffic in the area. It also states that since bays will not be required, the total amount of space available for parking will be maintained as it is and this exceeds the current demand for parking by residents.

Results of Consultation

Just under 17% of people returned the consultation form to the council back in February this year (does this low number reflect the confusion that the presentations caused?). The results reveal that the majority of these people are in favour of some sort of a scheme being introduced (53.6% in favour of a scheme vs 46.6% preferring to keep things as they are).

The options given were:
1 - Residents only permit-based scheme
2 - Option 1 plus limited free parking
3 - Permit based scheme, (residents, hospital staff & visitors)
4 - Option 3 plus limited free parking
5a - Pay & Display plus permits for residents
5b - Pay & Display plus permits for residents & hospital staff
6 - Traffic management (restrictions at junctions)
7 - Limited permit scheme in cul-de-sacs & small networks of streets
8 - Leave parking as it is

Figure 1: The percentage of people favouring each of the eight options.

Figure 2: Residents were asked to number each option in order of preference. This graph shows the total score for each option.

Next Meeting: Tuesday 15th September

The next meeting of the Residents' Association is Tuesday 15th September at 7.00pm in St Mary Magdelene Church Hall, Wilson Street.

Minutes of the last meeting are posted below.

Apologies for a lack of updates over the Summer, hopefully we will now be back to at least weekly updates.

Over the last few weeks work on Chester Road has been completed and the new traffic lights and no-right-turns are up and running. Work has also started on the redevelopment at the hospital. Hopefully, neither are causing too many problems to residents. Apparently the changes on Chester Road are 'experimental' and the council are keeping an eye on the situation.


Minutes of Meeting held in St Mary Magdalene Church Hall
Tuesday 28th July 2009

In Amanda’s absence, the secretary explained that following the previous meeting, letters had been written to Cllr O’Connor, Cllr Paul Watson, and The Council Standards Committee expressing our disappointment and anger at the way the Extra-ordinary Planning Application Meeting on June 16th had been conducted. Letters were sent to Cllr Forbes, Cllr Martin and Cllr Morrissey thanking them for their efforts on our behalf. A letter was sent to Mr John Munns at the Department of Transport requesting that he look favourably on our position regarding the car parking situation. Letters were also sent to Mp’s Chris Mullin, Fraser Kemp and Bill Etherington requesting their support and inviting them to attend our meetings. Replies had been received from Chris Mullin (who stated he had written to the leader of the council on our behalf, Mr Munns stated he had already advised the council on possible signing approaches for resident only parking that the council could adopt. Bill Etherington promised to approach the council on our behalf. Cllr Watson wrote stating a substantive response to our complaint would follow from Mr R Raynor, Chief Solicitor for the council. Linda stated she had also written to the Prime Minister stating our case.

Paul informed the meeting that the Council had decided to scrap previous plans put forward in their February Consultation programme. They were now looking at residents only parking – permits would be free for 1st car with a minor charge for 2nd cars/visitors permits. Parking meters to be proposed for Kayll Road. Each area to be a different zone with the hospital still requesting a number of staff permits for each zone.

The meeting discussed the fact that if the hospital had staff permits to park in our streets this would still affect the residents. If successful the scheme would push staff and visitors to park further out and cause problems for those residents. Eventually the Council and the Hospital would have to consider alternative parking onsite. The Park and Ride schemes were now up and running but as yet still no good for staff as the last buses left the hospital site too early for some staff leaving work. The meeting also discussed other points raised such as yellow lines in back lanes were needed.

Mark stated that because of Amanda Robinson getting the residents together the council and the hospital trust had been forced to listen to us. Any further consultation process by the council would have to include the residents committee. The meeting wholeheartedly agreed with him.

Following discussion the committee agreed it was now not necessary to protest at the following day’s council meeting. If necessary we could protest at future meetings if needed.

Thomas noted that the Echo had not been giving the traffic problems the attention it deserved lately.

Maureen S pointed out that she had recently phoned the police about an obstruction in Bexley Street. They were there in 20 minutes. The police officer stated if there were any problems the police wanted to know about them. The telephone contact number is on the blog (03456 04343). Always ask for a log number.

Maureen L stated residents had fought for years for bollards in Washington Street. Following a recent car crash destroying bollards she telephoned the council. Following advice given at our meetings she knew how to complain and the bollards were replaced the same day. Other incidents involving reporting to the police were also mentioned. Police will attempt to find the owner of the car, but if not found they can ticket the car for obstruction.

The meeting closed at 8.15pm
The next meeting would be on Tuesday 15th September in St Mary Magdalene’s Church Hall at 7.0pm.

Illegal Parking

A resident of St Gabriels Avenue sent us this photograph of a car blocking a drive thereby preventing him from getting his car out. He was forced to get a lift to work. The police were called and hopefully ticketed the offending vehicle.

Next Meeting - Change of Venue

The next BPMRA meeting will be on Tuesday 28th July, at St Mary Magdelene's Church Hall at 7.00pm.

The Council Cabinet meet the following day to discuss the plans for the parking management scheme. There are plans for several members of the residents association to attend the meeting. We understand that none of the original seven options presented to residents will be used (including the option of doing nothing) but we have yet to find out what type of scheme will be implemented. At the last public meeting, Cllr Paul Watson said that they had been talking to a Civil Servant from the Department for Transport to see if they could introduce a scheme without having to use parking bays and yellow lines. Hopefully therefore, the total number of on street parking spaces will not be reduced.

Come along on the 28th to find out more.


Minutes of Meeting held in St Josephs Parish Centre
Tuesday 30th June at 7.0pm
Present: Malcolm Vickers, Ian Heptinstall, Keith Watson, Moyra Watson, Ken Wilkinson, G Percival, Alan Donkin, Beryl Smith, Robert Tones, Joy Hickman, Muriel Carr, Kate Wilson, Elizabeth Lardner, Maureen Stanger, Amanda Robinson, Maureen
Langley, Ina Murton, Linda Ranton, Susan Adamson, Paul Dixon.

Apologies: Ann Tumman, Marcel Lundy.

Public Meeting 2nd June, St Mary Magdelene Church HallAmanda (Chair) opened the meeting by asking peoples comments on the recent public meeting. It was noted that Carol Harries (Hospital Trust) spoke of the hospitals ongoing determination to find a solution but was not directly challenged. I Murton pointed out that all challenges were directed at the councillors. She agreed to contact Carol Harries to ask if any further progress had been made towards a solution to the car parking problem.

Planning Meeting 16th June, Civic CentreThose residents who attended the planning meeting agreed it had been handled very badly and was totally one-sided in favour of the hospital trust. The councillors voted by party with labour being the majority. The Chairperson cast her vote when she should have only done so when the votes were tied. We felt badly let down by Councillor O’Connor who represents the people of Millfield yet voted with his party in favour of the planning application. K Wilkinson pointed out that Kate’s arguments and quoted statistics and facts were totally ignored. Keith Lowes was arrogant and even chewed gum throughout the whole proceedings. Cllr Forbes stressed that the meeting should not have gone ahead without the assurances of the hospital trust that matters of concern including adequate parking arrangements had been met. She and Councillor Morrissey were highly praised by the residents for their arguments against the planning application. Councillor Miller showed no manners and appeared to in breach of codes of conduct by his behaviour towards opposition councillors. Councillor Watson (Leader of the Council) who at the public meeting promised to do all he could to find a solution was noticeable by his absence from the meeting. The meeting agreed letters be sent to Cllr Watson and Cllr O’Connor expressing our disgust at their behaviour and letters to Cllr Morrissey and Cllr Forbes expressing our appreciation of their efforts on our behalf.

Constitution
Amanda explained that the draft constitution had been accepted and now only needed the signatures of those present to formalise the document. If any members of the association thought changes could be made for the better, then these should be put in writing and would be discussed and voted upon at the Annual General Meeting which would probably be in May next year. The document was thus signed.

Fr Skelton had been very pleased with the donations amounting to £27.00 received at the public meeting in his church hall.

Blog Update
Kate stated that the blog was still doing very well and agreed to put minutes and notes from the recent meetings on the site. The meeting requested that it would be a good idea for her to present a blog update in printed form for the benefit of those members who did not have internet access. Linda Ranton also offered to print off copies of the blog site for the next meeting.

Any Other Business
The meeting was informed that a council meeting on proposed parking schemes was to go ahead on 29th July. P. Dixon would let us know the precise details. Public can attend but would not be allowed to speak. Any proposals cannot go before cabinet until after consultation with John Munns (Dept of Transport).
L Ranton proposed writing to local MP’s Bill Etherington and Chris Mullen to ask for their assistance.
Following discussion the meeting agreed that it would be unfair to patients and visitors to protest outside of the hospital. They did agree to protest outside of the next council cabinet meeting at the end of July. The Echo and television to be informed. Also advertise our meetings in the Echo – Down Your Way and News in Brief.
M Vickers suggested we write to Mr Munns (Dept of Transport) stressing our situation and the urgency and importance of finding a solution.
P Dixon stated Millfield police have been ticketing cars, he had been out on patrol with them. They had promised to patrol as often as they could. M Langley stated that no improvement had been noted. P Dixon stressed the need to keep logging calls with the police. He would supply contact details for each of the community police areas.
B Smith stated the council now had the power to issue obstructive parking tickets. P Dixon explained the Council could but had not yet taken up the option. They hadn’t yet issued any fines for littering.

The meeting closed at 7.55pm

NO RIGHT TURN

Where are the routes of yesteryear?
It really makes my stomach churn.
I need to go to Ryhope, but
they`ve gone and blocked off that right turn!

We`re stranded on a `desert isle`.
From St Gab`s Ave, there`s no way south.
It seems that our alternatives
are A19 ->or <- Wearmouth.

We`ve risked our necks on Ewesley Road
(A carpark zone with one track street).
We`ve tacked around on speed-bump roads.
Found cul-de-sacs. Admit defeat!

What lunatics did they employ,
who so disrupt our traffic flow?
Why, folk who don`t live here, of course -
so we should tell them where to go.

Maria Makepeace

More Illegal Parking

The parking problem isn't just one of cars parked at our front doors all day, cars are also parked in such a way that they cause an obstruction. A task force made up of Councillors recently produced a report on the parking situation both in our area. (Many of the points raised in the report were also put forward in our argument against the hospitals planning application. Interestingly, the Chair of the planning committee is one of the three authors of this report, but she still voted to grant planning permission).

One of the points raised was that the vast majority of personal injury incidents in the area "could be attributed to restricted visibility as a result of high levels of on street parking." (If you wish to read the report you can find it by clicking here.) Many residents experience near misses on a regular basis.

Here we have just a few examples of the type of dangerous parking that residents cope with daily.

Probably the closest this 4x4 ever comes to off road but not only is it making life difficult for pedestrians, it also obstructs the view of drivers at the junction.


Parked or abandoned? Parking several feet away from the double yellow lines does not mean that you are parked legally! Note the bins are out - it would have been interesting to see how the refuse collection vehicle got round that corner.


Not only was this car parked on yellow lines, it was also parked on the pavement making it difficult for pedestrians to pass, especially anyone with a pushchair or wheelchair.

Yellow lines are used where parking would be dangerous, as here at the junction of Henderson Road with Kayll Road. The driver of this car appeared to be a member of staff at the hospital. Two sign posts clearly state no parking Monday to Saturday 8am to 6pm yet this photograph was taken at about 11.30am on a Tuesday.

This car, again belonging to a hospital staff member, was ticketed by a traffic warden shortly after this photo was taken.

At the last residents association meeting, Cllr Paul Dixon reported that the police have been patrolling in the Millfield area and have been ticketing vehicles parked dangerously or causing an obstruction. If you see a car parking illegally, dangerously or so as to cause an obstruction you can report it by phoning the local police on 03456 043 043.

Fiction or Reality?

I don`t know if the council THINK a few years ahead. Meanwhile in the USA they have experts dealing with declining cities.

Have the council considered the long-term effects of turning our area into
an extended hospital car-park?

This is a science fiction view of what could happen:

Sunderland is already suffering effects of the recession. Jobs decline.
Population moves out for work or becomes unemployed. Houses are put on the
market as a result.

Those residents who are left realise the difficulties as parking problems
become worse and the re-routing of traffic causes extra problems and adds to
commuting time. They also attempt to sell up and get out to more accessible
and less congested areas.

Cost of property declines.

Empty properties in the area increase. Some homes become boarded up and a
haven for vandals and homeless people.

People begin to fear leaving their cars in the area around the hospital. The
self-centred hospital employees have caused their own problems. Students
begin to fear studying in such a place. Emergency ambulances are attacked en
route to the hospital by marauding gangs of hoodies. Hoodies regularly
attempt to raid hospital pharmacy for drugs. Hospital has to recruit large
army of security guards.

Inner city decline continues in this part of Sunderland.Council has to
consider the possible costs of regeneration. Where can they ask funding. The
government is up to its neck in debt and because Britain by this time has
removed itself from Europe, no funding is available from there.

Sunderland becomes a very bad slum.


An alternative view:

The hospital employees are positively encouraged to car-share and are
offered FREE park and ride facilities - with services running at times to
suit hospital shifts.

Parking is extended at Pallion and Millfield Metro stations with frequent
mini-bus service by the likes of Scarlet Band (Who provide both the East
Durham Hospital Transport scheme and Durham City Park and Ride.

Free taxi service is altered from Sainsbury`s (where it duplicates the
existing bus-service) to more logical places, where it doesn`t.

Council explores possibility of Euro-funding for an underground carpark at
the hospital OR an underground hospital metro station, or underground
conveyor-belt from Millfield metro station.

Less carbon monoxide in the immediate area of the hospital improves health
and healing.

Thanks to Maria Makepeace for this thought provoking piece

Next Meeting

The Residents Association will hold a meetingat 7.00pm on Tuesday 30th June in the Committee room at St Josephs Parish centre, Rutland Street.

All welcome.

Questions & Answers

Below are some of the questions put to Councillors, the police and hospital representatives at the public meeting earlier this month.

Amanda Robinson opened the meeting with a question to Cllr Watson. At the last meeting Cllr Watson stated he would work 24 hours a day to find a solution to the parking problem. Had he managed to find a solution?
Cllr Watson: stated the hospital needs to operate day-to-day. Residents only parking and parking bays would mean losing up to ½ of the present available parking. The Department of Transport have been approached to find a way of exempting bays and yellow lines from Resident Only parking areas. The Dept of Transport were sending a “top representative” to look at the situation.

A resident pointed out that many of the relevant streets were never made aware of any official consultation process by the council.

Q: What can be legally done about obstructive parking?
A: Sgt Hall stated always ring the police. Unfortunately these calls would not be given priority. He also suggested contact numbers for the police be passed to the Chairperson to distribute to the public.

Resident: Residents parking should not have to be paid for by the residents themselves. We already pay road and council tax.

George Hood: stated that the hospital were looking to reduce the problem. Up to 80 people per day were using the Park and Ride scheme from Sainsburys. Hopefully this scheme would be extended soon to the north from a site near the Alexandra Bridge. Also looking to negotiate a similar scheme to the west.

Cllr Gofton: stated that all the councillors for Pallion opposed charges for resident only parking.
Cllr Watson: stated that some way had to be found to finance any scheme.
Cllr Arnott: stated that all the options given in the original consultation included payment schemes. The conservative councillors had put forward an 8th Option requiring 2hr only parking signs for visitors with no charge for resident only permits. If parking bays and double yellow lines were introduced this would be “1 step forward and 2 steps back”. An urgent response should be requested from the Dept of Transport. A standard scheme needs to be put to the Dept. He then asked Cllr Watson what was the outcome of the Planning Application meeting earlier that day.

Cllr Watson: stated that the application could not be turned down as adequate provision had been made to increase parking in the hospital grounds for the extension. There would be legal implications if the application was deferred for this reason. The hospital had stated they were willing to look at how they could help with the car parking problems. The application had been deferred for the moment because the Bat survey had not yet been done.
Cllr Arnott: stated the hospital were making all the right noises in order to get their application passed.

Resident: The hospital is fundamentally responsible for the parking problems. Any business has to put in place adequate parking arrangements for their staff and customers. This has been a long-standing problem. The police need to be present and ticket offenders to discourage obstructive parking.
George Hood: stated improper behaviour by SRH staff is taken seriously by the hospital. The hospital are encouraging their staff to take part in car sharing schemes, park and walk from Clanny House and setting up a Bicycle User Group. This would not solve the problems but would be making a contribution.

Carol Harries: stated the residents had her word that the car parking problem is a big issue and the present situation is not acceptable.

George Hood: stated a multi-storey car park was possible but the costs would be huge – between £6-9 million. This debt would have to be paid for meaning parking charges would have to go up, forcing some people to park back in the streets.

Resident: The council is managing to find 30 million pounds to build a new Iconic bridge which was not essential.
Cllr Watson: stated that the money from the bridge was from a different budget.

Cllr Morrissey: The only way to focus people to park in the hospital instead of the surrounding streets would be by introducing residents only parking. Then a multi-storey car park would have to be used.

Resident: Concerns and solutions to the parking problems have been expressed at previous public meetings but we are still not being listened to.
Cllr Gofton: What the residents have to say has been listened to by the council.
Cllr Watson: Stated that 12 weeks since the public consultation was not a long time.
Resident: At the last public meeting the hospital trust and the council stated they would meet to over options. Have they met since that time?
Cllr Watson: Countless meetings were going on at different levels all the time. The parking problem is a priority. The response to the consultation and requests would be looked into. There were resource constraints and costs.

M Greenfield: When will the results of the consultation in February be publicised. The problems are caused mainly by hospital admin and support staff. With the modern electronic highway was it necessary for all support staff to be based in a large administrative block in the hospital grounds. Couldn’t they be moved offsite to help alleviate the situation?
George Hood: stated that one of the options they were looking at was to move blocks of admin off site. They were also looking at spreading some departmental work over 7 days.

Cllr Dixon: pointed out that other areas had similar problems. Some had been solved with schemes which did not include double yellow lines and parking bays. The Freeman Hospital in Newcastle discouraged long term parking in the surrounding streets with 1hr am and 1hr pm only parking.

Resident: The police need to purge the streets and ticket offenders.
Sgt Hall: Stated the police would look into this but would need to know the major affected areas.
Resident: Visitors were not the major problem as they only parked for a couple of hours at a time. Staff parked their cars for up to 12 hours at a time, sometimes even longer. How are staff allocated parking in the hospital?
George Hood: Only consultants had allocated parking in the hospital.
Resident: Staff would not pay for use of hospital parking if they could not be guaranteed allocated parking.
Cllr Arnott: Stated the hospital needed to do an in-depth survey on this situation.
George Hood: Have done this but only accurate for that day.
Cllr Arnott: It needs to be ongoing. The only incentive for hospital staff would be free parking.

Resident: In Chatsworth Street visitor parking is also a problem as cars come and go all day. The hospital need to publicise park and ride scheme to visitors and outpatients as well as staff.

Resident: City wide council run park and ride schemes seem to work in other cities like York and Durham.
Cllr Watson: This is something to think about long term. Presently Sunderland does not have a big traffic problem other than the hospital parking at the moment.
Resident: Need several satellite park and rides around the city.
Resident: If Sunderland does not have a traffic problem why all the work to create diversions on Chester Road.
Cllr Watson: stated Chester Road was a bad problem. Bus priority options were needed as well as lights at Springwell Road roundabout.

Cllr Arnott: asked Cllr Watson if the Dept of Transport was fully in touch with what was going on here. The residents’ opinions needed to be put to the gentleman taking up our case. Could Cllr Watson give the meeting his name so he could be contacted by the Residents Committee? He suggested Cllr Watson stressed the urgency of a need for response. When response received then we could all meet again.
Cllr Watson: stated he could not remember the name of the gentleman from the Dept of Transport, but he had already stressed the residents’ concerns.

Public Meeting

Thanks to everyone who attended the meeting last night (2nd June). The number of people present and the comments and questions raised show that there is still a great deal of concern about the parking issues. Hopefully the council realise that the residents are not going to go away until an acceptable solution is found.

Minutes of the Last Meeting

Minutes of Meeting held 28th April 2009 in
St Josephs Parish Centre

Present: S Adamson, K Wilson, M Stanger, E Lardner, T Hall, D Norman, J Surtees, Cllr P Dixon, L Ranton, B Smith, A Tumman, K Wilkinson, A Robinson.

Apologies: J Hickman, M Carr, F Beardow.

Chairmans Report
A Robinson opened the meeting by explaining the minutes of the previous meeting.
A letter had been received from A Calvert, Traffic and Road Safety Manager acknowledging receipt of our petition. He stated a report regarding the issues raised should be completed before the end of May 09.
A reply to our request under the Freedom of Information Act for information regarding the statistics gained from the Public Consultation Exercise regarding the hospital parking issues had been received from E Harrison, Performance Development Assistant. She stated that all information (except that considered to be exempt) would be provided by 14.5.09.

The Meeting agreed that following further incidents of car damage, dangerous and inconsiderate parking the situation was continuing to get worse. The increased traffic warden presence seemed to have been only temporary. The meeting was informed that traffic wardens did not have the complete authority to deal with all traffic violations. We were advised to telephone the police regarding parking problems as they occurred and each time obtain an incident number, thus adding to the police statistics. The telephone number for the whole of the south side of the river was 03456043043. Kate to place this information on the website.

The meeting also agreed to a suggestion that residents be advised that they were also entitled to address their complaints about parking issues in writing to the Chief Executive of the Council. This information also to be put on the website.

The meeting was also made aware that Asda’s planning application to add a second floor to their store at Grangetown had been refused because of lack of parking provision.

It was also reported that local shops and business had expressed concerns because their businesses were suffering through customers could not being able to park anywhere near.

Blog Update
Following the recent article in the Echo there had been a huge increase in numbers interested in the website. The majority of the views expressed were mainly favourable. The meeting agreed the photos were a good idea.

Any Other Business
The meeting heard that apparently problems had occurred with the demolition of the old Kayll Road block as there could potentially be bats in the building. Further surveys and assessments were to be carried out, thus delaying demolition for the moment.

A suggestion was made that residents should apply for reduction in Council Tax as the parking problems were impacting on the selling value of our properties.

Cllr Dixon stressed that we should put together a plan of what we want from the Council in order to help solve the parking problems.

The committee agreed that the next meeting should be a Public Meeting to be held in St Mary Magdelene Church Hall on Tuesday 2nd June at 7.0pm.
Council, Police and SRH Trust representatives are to be invited to attend, also Cllr Jim Blackburn.
The Echo to be informed, flyers and posters to be distributed.

The meeting closed at 8.10pm

Update: Public Meeting

Cllr Paul Watson (of Pallion Ward and leader of the Council) has confirmed that he will attend the meeting on Tuesday 2nd June. See below for more details.

This is an opportunity for residents to put their ideas for Residents Parking schemes to Cllr Watson ahead of the council meeting at which the result of the public consultation will be discussed.

Don't forget the comments he made on his own blog recently about how "your comments, ideas and suggestions are all very welcome".

We also hope to have news on the Hospital proposals as well - it looks likely that the application will go before the planning committee on the afternoon of the 2nd.

Public Meeting: Tuesday 2nd June, 7pm

The BPMRA are holding a Public Meeting at St Mary Magdalene's Church Hall, Wilson Street, Millfield at 7.00pm on 2nd June.

Representatives from the Council, the Hospital and the Police have been invited to attend along with Cllr Jim Blackburn, the portfolio holder for Planning & Transportation.

The aim of the meeting is to debate the residents parking schemes, ahead of the Council's meeting to discuss the proposals.

All residents and local business owners are welcome to attend to show that we are still fighting for a reasonable solution to the parking issues.

Reporting

We are regularly hearing reports of abusive behaviour towards residents by people from the hospital who are trying to park their cars. Cars are often being damaged and the amount of inconsiderate and dangerous parking is increasing, not to mention the increased volume of traffic. The traffic wardens were spending a bit more time in the area, but this presence seems to have tailed off again.

There are some circumstances where traffic wardens have no powers and the police can be contacted. For example if a parked vehicle is causing an obstruction, such as blocking your drive or yard and if you can't get your own car out you can call the police.

Telephone the local police on 03456 043 043 to report such illegal parking. Ask for an incident number to ensure that your complaint is logged on the system and so that you can follow it up if necessary.

All residents are also entitled to complain to the Chief Executive at the Council about the parking issues. You can write to:
The Chief Executive
Sunderland City Council
Civic Centre
Burdon Road
Sunderland
SR2 7DN

In addition, local business owners who are being affected by the current situation can also voice their concerns in the same way.

Good News

Barnes Park was recently awarded a Heritage Lottery grant to restore and redevelop the park. Changes are to include restoration of historic features such as the canon, bandstand, railings and gates along with regeneration of the lake, a sensory garden and a new games area. Security of the park will also be improved making it a space that residents and visitors of all ages can enjoy.

Congratulations to the City Council, the Friends of Barnes Park and all those other people involved in securing the funding.

The BBC Wear website has more information on the plans and the history of the Park here.

It sounds like it will be a great place to escape to!

Public Meeting

We hope that the next meeting of the BPMRA will be a public meeting with representatives from the Council, the hospital and local councillors attending.

The provisional date for this is Tuesday 2nd June.
Details will be posted soon confirming date, time and venue!

Update on the the Hospital plans:
Over 120 letters of objection have been received by the council planning department and it would seem that most, if not all, are based on the lack of parking. However, it is a different group of residents which look like they have delayed the plans: Bats.

There is a chance that bats are roosting in the Kayll Road block and being a protected species this means that the building can't be demolished without investigating the bats and possibly providing a new home for them.

The hospital were hoping that planning permission would be granted quickly so that work could begin this month but it is now going to be decided in June at the earliest.

When the roads are full...

...the back lanes provide and ideal alternative!



This is the lane between Chatsworth Street and Greta Terrace where most of the homes have vehicle access into the back. The parked cars mean that there isn't enough room for residents to get their cars either in or out of the back yards. It isn't just a handful of streets affected by the lack of parking at the hospital, according to the Council 2700 households were sent information about the parking management schemes.

Next Residents Meeting: Tuesday 28th April

The next meeting will be on Tuesday 28th April at 7.00pm in St Josephs Parish Centre, Rutland Street. Everyone is welcome to join us.

The minutes of the last meeting on 31st March are posted below.

BARNES, PALLION & MILLFIELD RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION

Minutes of Meeting held 7.0pm 31.3.09
At St Joseph’s Parish Centre

Present: M. Greenfield, M Lundy, E Lardner, M Stanger, D Owens, A Robinson, T Hall,
M Langley, A Donkin, Cllr P Dixon, D Norman, M Peacock, P Tebbs, K Wilson,
M Carr, J Hickman, A Tumman, K Wilkinson, D.M. Murton, B Smith,
G Pensial, S Adamson.
Apologies: L Ranton.

Chairman’s Report
A Robinson began by going over the minutes of the previous meeting.
Members of the Committee reported that residents were still being subjected to both verbal and even written abuse from hospital staff parking in the side streets. It was suggested that all these incidents should be reported to the police as they were obliged to log the calls and also to the Hospital Trust as they would have to reply to correspondence received. In a recent letter from Carol Harries to Cllr Dixon, she stated that the Chief Executive had personally e-mailed all staff reminding them of their personal responsibilities in relation to parking in nearby residential streets. This had obviously not worked.

Cllr Dixon had received a memo from Phil Barrett, Development and Regeneration Services, stating that more than 2,700 properties around the Hospital had been surveyed. He also stated that restricted residents only parking would have a negative impact on the day-to-day running of the hospital if staff were unable to park in the surrounding streets. At the recent Council meeting it was stated that only 470 replies had been received. The majority option from these replies would be considered for implementation. The Committee requested a letter be sent to Mr Barrett requesting an accurate account of the properties surveyed under the Freedom of Information Act, a copy to be sent to Cllr Watson.

It was pointed out by some members that an increase in traffic warden presence had been noted since the recent public meetings but so far with no significant improvement.

Council Meeting
Cllr Dixon had presented our petition to the Council at their recent meeting. We await a response.

Website
Kate’s website was proving to be very successful with a majority of positive responses. The committee suggested a template letter to be put on the website in order for people to put their objections to the hospital application for planning permission. The closing date for these objections is 7th April. Public can also attend the Planning Meeting. Flyers and posters were being distributed as far as possible in order to inform the local residents of the website.

Any Other Business
Members pointed out that the parking situation in St Gabriels Avenue was also being aggravated by City Taxis, who have a contract with the Hospital, using the road outside the garages for their breaks while waiting for calls. Sometimes as many as five cabs at a time were parking there. Not only were they obstructing traffic and pedestrian access they were dumping rubbish (cigarette ends, teabags, orange peel and even empty food cartons littering the ground).

Rather than take action by blocking streets with our own cars, which would put people at risk, the committee agreed it would be more beneficial to try and involve our local MP Mr Bill Etherington.

The Committee wished to thank both St Joseph’s Parish Centre and St Mary Magdelene’s Church for their kind offer of use of their premises.
The Sunderland Echo were also following our progress and keeping in regular contact with Amanda.

Cllr Dixon impressed upon the Committee the need to concentrate on pressing the council to implement residents only parking, as this was the only way to force the Hospital Trust into finding a solution for their staff parking.
In a letter to Cllr Dixon, Carol Harries (Trust Secretary) had stated that the Hospital were willing to work with the council on resolving the parking situation. This was contradictory to statements by the council. The committee suggested a letter be sent to Carol Harries stating that we did object in principal to their extension plans but that provision for car parking should be a priority in these plans and also reiterate the stress and distress this situation was causing our residents. A copy to be sent to Cllr Watson.

The meeting closed at 8.10pm.
The next meeting to be Tuesday 28th April at 7.0pm at St Joseph’s Parish Centre.

Power to the People?

There has been a great response to the planning application with about 90 objections posted at the last count. Thanks to everyone who took the time to send their opinions to the Council. Let's hope the planners and Councillors take note!

On the subject of 'taking note', it is wonderful to read how the Leader of the Council, Cllr Paul Watson (of Pallion ward) has stated in his weekly blog that:

"It is the council’s job to listen to and work with communities to ensure that our services – and those of our partners – are as good as possible. From our investment in schools and roads to looking after people in their own homes and caring for the environment, we are continually looking at how we’re performing and listening to what people tell us to make sure that the needs of residents continue to be at the heart of everything that we do...

"It means that you are going to be able to play a much bigger part in the future of your area. There will be better ways for people to give their views and influence the decisions that affect them and their local areas. You can be assured that what you tell us will be acted upon".

You can read the whole article HERE.

More Inconsiderate Parking !

Here we have another example of the problems caused by parking in the area around the hospital! This car was parked across the entrance to St Gabriel's church car park yesterday afternoon preventing cars from getting out. We don't know how long it was there for but it was long enough to cause problems.

If you haven't yet commented on the lack of new car parking spaces in the hospitals planning application but would like to, you can find more details here. Comments should be in by the end of tomorrow.

Don't forget to return your slip to Cllr Lee Martin for the latest parking scheme option!

Residents Parking - New Option

Following on from the seven options for residents parking schemes, we have been informed that an 8th option is being proposed. Details have now been sent out to all in the area.

The proposed scheme will be free to residents and will limit parking to 2 hours for hospital patients & visitors, shoppers etc.

The letter is accompanied with a tear-off slip. This should be filled in and returned as soon as possible to the FREEPOST address on the slip.

Thanks to Councillor Lee Martin of Barnes ward for this proposal.

Parking Rage

We can appreciate how stressful it can be when parking is difficult, particularly at your place of work, but it is often difficult to have much sympathy for the hospital staff who use our residential streets as their own private car park. While the hospital car park may fill up fairly quickly, there are still spaces available at 8 o'clock in the morning. However, our roads and pavements are free as opposed to the £1.20 per day fee charged by the hospital or the monthly permits for £14.40.

Finding a parking space when attending the hospital as a visitor or patient is also stressful. However, sympathy for these peoples' plight is lost on hearing about the abuse that residents have suffered from the staff and visitors. Threats to "punch your teeth out" or to burn a house or car down do little for their cause and it was a nurse who left a note on an elderly gentleman's car which was parked safely and legally outside his own home, calling him a "selfish bastard".

Wouldn't all of these people be better off in a hospital multi-storey car park?

Objection to the Planning Application

Below is a template that you could use to object to the hospitals planning application.
Feel free to copy this into a letter or email. You can add to it or cut bits as you see fit, according to your own views on the redevelopment.

(Can we point out that the objections we have are to the lack of car parking provision within the plans for the site. We do not object to improving healthcare facilities for Sunderland. Considerable changes have taken place at the Royal Hospital site in recent years and there will be more in the next few years. The car parking issues must therefore be resolved at this stage).

Whatever you do say in your letter or email, if you object you must include the word object (or objection) otherwise your views may just be taken as a comment and not counted as an objection.
Also, you should give your name and address so that they can see you are a local resident with a valid interest in the application.
Also quote the application number: 09/00997/FUL

Clicking here will take you directly to the council planning website where you can leave your comments (link opens in a new window).

Or you can Email: dc@sunderland.gov.uk

Or write to: Head of Planning and Environment, PO Box 102, Civic Centre, Sunderland. SR2 7DN

SAMPLE LETTER:


Re: Planning Application number 09/00997/FUL - Development at Sunderland Royal Hospital

I wish to object to this planning application on the following grounds:

Currently, there is insufficient parking provision on site, a fact acknowledged by both the Hospital Trust and the City Council and a reality that local residents are only too familiar with. Long term parking in the streets around the hospital is a major issue for local residents and this redevelopment on the Hospital site will contribute further to these problems. The proposals include the creation of just 139 new car parking spaces, with 114 available for normal use (the remainder being disabled spaces). This is not enough to cope with the existing pressures on the site and will have no impact once the additional 138 beds and extended treatment facilities are opened.

The planning application states that “the proposed development represents part of a wider ongoing redevelopment programme planned for the Royal Hospital.” If additional redevelopments are to go ahead in the future, as well as those which have taken place in recent years, these parking issues must be resolved at this stage.

.

Meeting Tonight - Updated

Barnes, Pallion and Millfield Residents Association are meeting tonight at 7pm at St Josephs Parish Centre, Rutland Street, Millfield.

The parking situation will be high on the agenda!

Everyone is welcome to join us.

UPDATE at 10pm: Thanks to everyone who came along this evening, it was a great turn out.

Thanks must also go to Mrs Dorothy Quinn, Secretary for St Josephs Parish Centre for use of the room.

While we are still pressing for a suitable residents parking scheme, the priority for the next few days is the hospital planning application, for which more details can be found in this post. Please write to the council with your objections to the application before Wednesday 8th April. Ideas for an objection and an example of an objection letter will be posted here shortly so keep an eye on this website!

Improved clinical facilities at the hospital are welcomed however, something must be done to improve parking facilities.

Inconsiderate Parking!

This photo shows just one example of the parking problems that residents living in the area around the hospital have to put up with on a daily basis. This was taken at around 9.30 one morning last week. Fortunately the cars which would have been blocked in were already out.



If you are obstructed:
If you have a car blocking your driveway or a vehicle is parked wholly on the pavement or in such a way that it is causing an obstruction, (e.g. if you have to go on to the road to get past) you can report it to the police.

If you see a vehicle not displaying a blue badge parked on double yellow lines it is the council that needs to be contacted. In this instance they can issue a parking ticket.

If you have any photos which show the problems in your area you can email them to us or bring them along to the next meeting!

Next Meeting

You are invited to join us at the next Residents Association meeting on Tuesday 31st March at 7.00pm, at St Josephs Parish Centre, Rutland Street, Millfield.

Everyone is welcome to come and join us.

This is your chance to have your say on issues affecting you as residents.
Alternatively, you can leave a comment here or email us at: bpmra.sunderland@gmail.com


Updated 26/03/2009

Hospital Plans and Parking

The Hospital Trust has now submitted a planning application to the council and can be viewed at the Civic Centre online or on the City Council website here. (If you need to search online for the application the reference number is: 09/00997/FUL).

The plans for expansion of the hospital were presented at a public exhibition at the hospital last month and briefly include conversion of existing buildings for admin and clinical use and the construction of a new 138-bed ward block. The plans also include the creation of 139 new car parking spaces.

Documents submitted to the council as part of the planning application acknowledge the issue of a lack of parking on the hospital site and the parking problems in the surrounding area as a result of this. However, they repeatedly dismiss the idea of building a new multi-storey car park. Interestingly, following the exhibition and public consultation, most of the comments received by the hospital trust from residents mention the problems with parking and many of them suggest that a multi-storey on the site would be the solution. This also seemed to be the consensus at the public meeting held last month.

The Councils’ own study has revealed that the biggest problem with on-street parking is caused by hospital staff who often park outside residents front doors for up to 12 hours each day (this has been over 24 hours on numerous occasions). Currently the hospital employs 4,244 staff and this will increase to 4,304. The total number of car parking spaces (including disabled spaces) is currently 1,130 increasing to 1,269 after the redevelopment (all figures have been taken from planning application form). While some staff will be working shifts, the majority will be onsite between 9am-5pm Monday- Friday, as local residents can testify. There is therefore an obvious massive shortfall in the number of spaces required, even before taking into consideration the requirements of patients and visitors.

Residents have until Wednesday 8th April to send their comments to the council (some residents in the roads overlooking the hospital will have received a letter from the council about this inviting their comments).

If you have been affected or feel that you will be affected by these parking issues and object to the lack of parking spaces at the hospital, why don’t you have your say? Anyone can comment on the plans in any the following ways:

Following this link will take you directly to the relevant page to leave your comments: Click Here to go direct to the council planning website

Or you can Email: dc@sunderland.gov.uk

Or write to: Head of Planning and Environment, PO Box 102, Civic Centre, Sunderland. SR2 7DN

Quote the planning reference on any letter/email: 09/00997/FUL

Tell the planning department what you think.

Petition to City Council

A priority of this association at the moment is to work to find a solution to the problems of parking in the area around the Sunderland Royal Hospital site. Residents living the streets around the hospital will be only too aware of the problems caused by parking, mainly by staff and visitors to the hospital.

Many people living in the area represented by this association will have signed a petition calling for a full public consultation on the proposals that the City Council have put forward with respect to a parking management scheme. Although the council distributed the proposals to 2700 households and held a two day exhibition at St Gabriel's Church, we are aware that many people living in the affected roads did not receive this information. We will therefore present the petition to the Council on the residents behalf at the next council meeting on Wednesday 25th March at 6pm.

News from the Echo

There was an article in yesterdays Sunderland Echo about the traffic management and parking issues in the Royal Hospital area.

You can read this article here.

More information on these issues can be found in this Echo article, including some positive comments from Councillor Paul Watson who represents the Pallion ward.

All links open in a new window.

Welcome

Welcome the the website of the Barnes, Pallion and Millfield Residents' Association (BPMRA).

The association was formed with the intention of representing residents within these three areas of Sunderland. This blog will be regularly updated to provide news and information on issues affecting Barnes, Pallion and Millfield.

This is also a place where you can have your say!
Please leave a comment by clicking 'comments' at the end of the post or alternatively you can email the Residents' Association committee at bpmra.sunderland@gmail.com