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.