The End to the Parking Misery is in Sight!

People living in the area around the hospital will this week receive details of the latest proposal for a Parking Management Scheme. The council officers have worked closely with residents and councillors to develop this scheme.

Previous schemes didn't receive enough support to be adopted, partly as it covered such a large area. The latest scheme covers a smaller area but includes those streets which are most affected by hospital parking.

Only permit holders will be able to park in affected streets between 10am and 11am and between 2pm and 3pm. Outside of these two 1-hour slots, parking is open to all. This will prevent people parking for the whole day outside your homes. For example, a non-resident parking at 9am will have to remove their car by 10am (unless they are visiting a resident and display a visitors permit). These hours have been chosen to accommodate local shops, businesses and schools as well as hospital patients and visitors while at the same time removing all those cars which currently park all day.

The first residents permit will be free and charges will be made for extra permits and visitors permits. These charges have been set so that the scheme pays for itself, i.e. covering the cost of administrating and policing the scheme.

The Residents Association encourage all residents to vote for this scheme. This is likely to be the last chance we have to do something about the high numbers of cars parking in residential streets. A situation which is worsening rapidly. As this is a pilot scheme, once it is up and running it will be reviewed regularly to see if any tweeks are needed, including monitoring streets surrounding the scheme to see if the parking zones need to be extended.

Any comments or questions can be raised at the Residents Association's November meeting on Tuesday 2nd, in St Josephs Parish Centre.

We Are Not Alone!

The Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2 yesterday featured a discussion on parking at the hospital in Paisley near Glasgow where parking in limited to a maximum of four hours. Unsurprisingly, staff, patients and visitors are being forced out into residential streets where they are causing the same sort of problems that residents of the Sunderland Royal Hospital area are all too familiar with.

If you're interested you can 'listen again' here. The debate starts approximately 1:08:20 minutes in and includes residents, staff and patients.

Meeting Tonight

Residents meeting tonight 7pm at St Josephs Parish Centre. All welcome.

Notes from the meeting held Tuesday 3rd August:

B Smith questioned K Heads proposal in the Workshop minutes that association members should knock on doors during the consultation process in order to re-engage with the public. At the previous workshop meeting it had been stated that council personnel would undertake this. The members agreed that we were not qualified to knock on doors and answer residents’ questions. Professionals would be able to get a better response. The meeting agreed this should be clarified at the next workshop meeting.
Cllr Kay stated the costing of the parking management scheme should be made clear at the next workshop meeting. This was agreed.
K Wilkinson stated we should make sure that the council are proposing our suggested scheme to the residents. We need to see the questions before they are put to the public.
L Ranton stated it needed to be impressed upon the council that the scheme needed to be implemented as soon as possible. Only that morning the police had to be called because both ends of Bexley St back lane were blocked by parked cars for at least two hours. A witness to this was a potential house buyer. He stated he “would never buy a house in this street”.
M Langley stated the situation in Washington Street was now dreadful. Elderly residents had no chance to park near their front doors. If they did go out they could not get parked on their return.
S Adamson stated the council were proposing that the easiest way to fund the scheme would be to allow the hospital permits for four years. Cllr Dixon stated that the residents would then still have to foot the bill following this. The meeting agreed wholeheartedly that hospital permits could not be accepted.
S Rackstraw showed the meeting a copy of the Hospital Chief Executive’s bulletin to his staff stating that following the demolition of the Kayll Road block there would be a further 139 car parking spaces. (This was as stated in their planning application to build a 136 bed extension). Also they were still looking at ways of possibly funding a multi-story car park. Cllr Kay stated that a multi-story car park would not work if visitors were charged to park.
The hospital received a very good revenue from parking fees.
The meeting agreed drivers would only pay if they had no choice and could not park in the side streets. M Adamson suggested extending the 1hr afternoon residents’ only parking to 2hrs in order to deter visitors. The meeting agreed it was ironic that people would pay to shop in the city centre but would not pay to visit their friends and relations in hospital.

The meeting agreed that even with multi-storey car parking for staff, visitors and outpatients would still rather park in the side streets than pay. Therefore it would be better if at least afternoon restrictions were for two hours rather than one to deter them. Following discussion it was agreed that this would restrict access for shop and business customers and this was not what we wanted. Cllr Dixon had recently visited the Freeman Hospital and noted that 1hr morning and 1hr afternoon restrictions worked very well. M Greenfield stated the problems were mainly caused by staff parking from early morning to late at night. S Rackstraw stated the only guaranteed parking for staff was at Clanny House, otherwise staff paid for permits but were not guaranteed parking on-site. Recently the hospital had agreed for parking in the ROAB car park in Rutland St. She also reported that two outpatients had recently telephoned to say they could not keep their appointments because they could not find somewhere to park. The meeting agreed that at least 50% of visitors to the hospital were disabled or elderly and yet there was not enough disabled parking on site for them. K Wilson reported one man having to drop his wife off at the hospital for an appointment and finally parking at the Barnes Hotel! Cllr Kay stated the hospital should be encouraged to build a multi-storey car park. S Adamson stated that Mr Newell was keen to involve the hospital trust in talks as soon as a scheme was put together to avoid objections at a later stage.

Correspondence
L Ranton reported that as a letter had been received from the Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman informing that the Hospital Trust had stated they had not yet received a “formal complaint” from the residents only “enquiries”, a Formal Letter of complaint, enclosing copies of previous letters sent since the Association had been formed, had been sent to Mr Bremner, Chief Executive of the Hospital Trust. A letter had been received from the Trust Complaints Dept acknowledging receipt of our Formal Complaint, thanking us for “bringing the matter to their attention” and a reply should be sent to us by the end of August. A copy of this letter and our previous letters sent and received had also been sent to Mr Tim O’Mahoney, the Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman who had acknowledged receipt of our letter with a reference number! A letter had also been sent to Mr John Anderson, Chairman of the Hospital Board of Governors, informing of our complaints and requesting his assistance. A Robinson reported that as requested at the last meeting a letter had been sent to Mr Paul Watson, Leader of the Council, expressing our concerns that they don’t lose sight over the other issues, including the state of the roads and pavements, discussed at the last meeting. He had replied stating he had passed on our concerns to the relevant Department.
A Robinson stated that at the previous Workshop meeting, Mr James Newell had stated that before implementation of a Parking Management Scheme it would be necessary to gain approval from the Department of Transport. She showed the meeting a copy of a letter received by us from the D.o.T. explaining that the Council had already sort advice from them on various traffic signing schemes and received approval. The letter explained the Council already had the powers apart from seeking legal advice to impose a parking management scheme without seeking further approval. This letter would be shown to Mr Newell.


Following discussion the meeting agreed that without our campaign the Hospital would never accept their responsibility for the present chaos in our local side streets. Cllr Kay stated that had any of the previous planning applications for extensions from the Hospital been refused by the Council the Hospital would have appealed and the council would have had to “shell out” lots of money in order to defend their decision and the Hospital would still win the right to extend. Cllr Dixon agreed the Hospital would always use emotional blackmail i.e the rights of patients to the best care available in order to build new extensions and facilities.
M Greenfield stated that in both Newcastle and Middlesbrough it had been necessary to impose parking management schemes in the areas around the hospitals. These had been in operation for up to ten years. Sunderland council has been very slow to follow suit. S Smith stated it had been pointed out many years ago when the Royal Infirmary had been closed that it would be impossible to get all the surrounding hospitals onto one site. M Greenfield stated “you can’t rewrite history” you can only learn from it.
The meeting agreed that our original plan put to the workshop was the best. They agreed that the council now had the right approach and were determined to put a workable scheme together as we were the “pilot” for the rest of the city.

B Smith raised the issue of the state of the side streets. Flooding during heavy rainfall was now a frequent occurrence. The meeting agreed that because of the saturated street parking it would be impossible for drain cleaning or maintenance to take place during normal working hours. Cllr Dixon stated that if a resident did have a problem they should approach their local councillor who would then report to the council. L Ranton re-affirmed the meeting’s feelings by stating that once the parking problem was solved then the other issues could be more easily resolved. M Adamson stated that it should be impressed upon the workshop that the parking scheme needed to be implemented as soon as possible as the situation was getting urgent. The meeting also agreed that it should be impressed upon the residents in the coming consultation that if they did not want the hospital to have parking permits it would be necessary for them to commit to paying, if not for first car, then any second car. M Langley stated that other authorities where residents only parking was free were now considering charging. We needed assurance that the council would not raise the fees again in the near future in order to gain further revenue. Cllr Kay stated the residents should be informed that if they did not wish to pay for a second named car, they could perhaps purchase a visitors' permit for their friends and relations etc. The meeting was informed this would not include carers and tradesmen as they would be allowed to park for free. A sensible approach to tradesmen by the traffic enforcement officers, as in other similar areas, would be necessary.

B Smith offered to advertise our meetings by contacting Dorothy McQuillan who is Editor for the Barnes area in “Down Your Way” in the Sunderland Echo. The meeting agreed a lot of people were quite happy to sit back and let us fight for them and many did not realise how far we had come towards getting a successful parking management scheme organised.

Cllr Kay stated it was necessary to keep our campaign in the front line as once new spending reviews are imposed in the Autumn the council would be looking to prioritise spending. L Ranton agreed it was necessary to keep pressing for a start date for implementation to keep the council focussed.

A Tumman asked if our association and its campaign came under the Prime Ministers plan for the Big Community to take charge of its own affairs. Following light-hearted discussion the meeting agreed they “could not answer this question”!

E Lardner informed the meeting that St Joseph’s Parish Centre where our meetings were mainly held would be closed and demolished in December 2011 as part of the plans to build a new primary school. At a meeting with the Parish Priest, the Centre’s committee had been informed that a community hall would be part of the plans but this would not include a bar or anywhere near the fine facilities we now had.

A Robinson had received a letter inviting association members to a Social Night at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday 14th September to meet members of the Armed Forces and promote a better understanding of the Army. A Tumman, J Hickman and B Smith volunteered to attend on behalf of the association.

The meeting closed at 8.20pm
The next meeting to be Tuesday 7th September in St Joseph’s Parish Centre at 7.0pm

Meeting:

Tuesday 3rd August, 7pm, St Joesphs Parish Centre. All welcome.

Appologies for the last minute update. The minutes of the July meeting are posted below.

There have been two meetings of the working group comprising of members of the residents association, local councillors and council officials and we are all working together with the aim of deveopling a parking management scheme which is acceptable to everyone concerned. A brief outline of these meetings is discussed in the minutes below and more detailed notes of these meetings will be posted in due course.


BARNES, PALLION & MILLFIELD RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION
Minutes of Annual General Meeting held Tuesday 6th July at 7.0pm
In Enid Dagg Room, Ewesley Road Methodist Church

Election of Officers:
Following ballot it was agreed A Robinson continue as Chairperson, L Ranton as Vice-Chairperson, S Adamson as Secretary and E Lardner as Treasurer. K Wilkinson, B Smith and D Campbell received nominations for committee. All other present committee members were accepted as continued members.

Chairpersons Report/Sub Committee Meetings
Amanda reported on the previous workshop meetings with the Councillors and Transport representatives. At the meetings the councillors and traffic representatives agreed our proposals for a traffic management scheme was on the whole quite feasible. However, the last meeting was informed by Mr Newell that to cover costs of implementation of a traffic management scheme it may be necessary to charge for first residents only parking permits. It was estimated that the cost of posts at each end of the streets and zones would cost up to £5,000 per street. Also administration, maintenance and policing costs. The only alternative to this would be to allow the Hospital Trust up to 400 parking permits to be dispersed over the whole of the area affected, reducing their portion annually.
P Dixon stated that it would probably not be possible to work out costs until the take-up of permits. It would need at least 50% take-up of 2nd charged permits from residents to cover costs. Some streets would have no option but to apply for 2nd permits at £20 each, others with parking drives and yards could avoid paying. Mr Newell stated that when canvassing the streets with leaflet drops followed by knocking on doors the residents would be asked whether or not they would be willing to pay for 2nd permits. L Ranton stated it would have to be stressed to the residents that if the 2nd permit was not taken up everyone would have to pay for first permit. B Smith asked what the charge would be. A Robinson stated £20 per year was the figure proposed.

K Wilson stated that if the shortfall was approximately £7,000 and the council were charging the hospital £180 per permit, she suggested that only 40 hospital permits would provide enough revenue. Don’t need to allow the hospital 400 permits. The residents agreed that any permits given to the hospital would still cause stress to the streets nearest.

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P Dixon stated that the working group proposed any hospital permits would be issued to streets further outside the red zones. A Robinson stated no permits would be given for the streets immediately close to the hospital. The residents agreed this would not work because then those streets would be applying for residents only parking. The working group agreed that any scheme implemented for us would have to be able to be moved out immediately to the wider areas if necessary.
A Robinson showed the residents an A3 costing and assessment booklet put together by
K Heads – Transport.
S Adamson stated Mr Newell was still looking at options for costing and would still like to give the residents 1st permit free if possible.

M Peacock stated that if the council charged the hospital for permits to park in our streets then they were using us as a municipal car park. It was not the Council’s job to charge for non-residents to park in our streets. B Smith stated our residents paid their council tax and contributed to the costs of plans in other areas in Sunderland. Many people over a wide area of Sunderland use the hospital, they should be made to contribute towards the costs.
L Ranton stated that a local councillor agreed at the workshop meeting that the hospital’s previous plans for expansion should never have been passed as they had not provided adequate parking. She stated that if the hospital did have to have permits, they should be zoned appropriately.

J Lowther stated that if visitors and staff had to park in the outer blue zone, it would take them approximately twenty minutes to walk to the hospital. This is not unacceptable. The authorities were trying to say that 250 cars were staff and the rest were visitors. If that figure was right and permits were sold to the hospital they would get a guaranteed parking space whereas they can’t at the moment. P Dixon stated the hospital would not be willing to pay for parking in streets twenty minutes’ walk from work. The hospital is stating they could not function properly if they were not allowed to park in our streets. They are using emotional blackmail. The people of Sunderland used the hospital; they should pay for our parking scheme. S Adamson stated if the council were looking for an income of £10 per car to make scheme viable then they should add that to the council tax so all the people of Sunderland would be paying. It was pointed out that the next council tax budget would be in April 2011. The government may yet freeze council tax budgets.

The meeting discussed the income received from proposed 1hr no return bays in some wider residential end terraced streets. At a cost of £3,000 per metre there would not be enough income return in these streets. It would be viable in Wilson St and Kayll Road. The council thought the end terraced streets should be marked for disabled and off-loading only.

S Adamson stated that the workshop agreed to invite representatives from the local traders to discuss permits for them and also the Hospital to future meetings, after a basic scheme has been determined, in order to keep them informed and also to lessen any possible objections which would delay implementation.

When asked if the workshop meetings were proving productive, S Adamson stated that they were moving forward and a lot of information was provided. The council were hoping for at least a 75% in favour from the residents. To achieve this they were going to do a leaflet drop through all doors followed by a door-to-door canvassing giving people all the information necessary including how it would be financed and what restrictions the scheme would bring in, in order for them to give a decision. They would also impress upon the residents that if they did not agree to the scheme, the situation could only get worse. They agreed the previous consultations were not fully explained. If 75% in favour with an average of 50% per street for the scheme, then nobody could say they hadn’t been consulted and given all the facts. The whole idea is to lessen the potential objections that would delay implementation of the scheme. They could have gone ahead with the previous proposed scheme of November 09 but the objections received would have possibly delayed implementation indefinitely.
M Adamson asked who would decide the questions on the survey? The working group would decide the questions. D Campbell stated £350,000 was the estimate to set the scheme up. But it would need to be self-financing in the future. If the hospital were allowed permits then this would finance the scheme. When consulting the residents it will have to be explained to them that initially the first permit may be free but that doesn’t mean that charges won’t be introduced in the future. S Adamson stated that the council wanted this scheme to work as much as we do because any scheme for us would be a pilot for the whole of the city.
B Smith stated that other areas in the city did not have the problem seven days a week as we do. L Ranton introduced the idea of one way streets in the areas closest to the hospital to try and reduce some of the traffic chaos. The meeting agreed that could be put to the working group. The next working group meeting would be Tuesday 17th August at 5.0pm in St Joseph’s Parish Centre.


Correspondence
A Robinson had received a letter from Cllr P Watson agreeing that in order for the group to work efficiently only one representative from each council ward would be necessary. He did propose five councillors over the three wards. At the last meeting four councillors were present which was adequate. Cllr Dixon had written to Carol Harries, Hospital Trust complaining about the contractors cars and vans parking in the side streets adding to the parking problems. James Newell had written to Cllr Dixon stating he would instruct the civil enforcement officers to make additional patrols on Wilson St and issue penalty charge notices to vehicles obstructing “dropped” crossings. The situation regarding parking round the schools would hopefully be resolved when the parking management scheme was enforced.
L Ranton had received a reply from the Parliamentary Ombudsman in answer to our complaint about the Council and the Hospital in relation to the parking problems. Although they were sorry to hear about our problems they cannot get involved because as yet “we had not made a formal complaint to the Hospital Trust!” The Hospital Trust complaints procedure had to be gone through first in order to allow the Hospital to answer our complaints. Basically the Hospital were denying any complaints received about the parking issues. They had only received individual “enquiries” from the residents. The meeting agreed a letter be sent to the Ombudsman including copies of all the letters sent by us to the Hospital. Also a further letter be sent to Mr Ken Bremner, Chief Executive of the Hospital Trust again stating our complaint. K Wilson suggested we write also to Mr John Anderson, Chairman of the Board of Governors for the Hospital Trust.

Blog Update
K Wilson reported receiving two irate e-mails from non-residents complaining of damage to their cars while parked near the hospital. The meeting agreed it would be silly of us to leave our polite parking notices on cars and then damage them. It was not something that the overall majority of our residents would do.

Any Other Business
A Jackson pointed out the problems caused by the new car and van rental business set up in Whitehall Tce, parking vans in local back lanes and Bexley St, on the kerb right in front of residents’ windows. S Rackstraw stated she had phoned the Planning Dept and there had been no application from Mr Finn (the business owner) for change of use for the premises.

B Smith brought up the on-going issue of no right turn into Ormonde Street down to Chatsworth St. This was still causing problems. The Council had promised they would review the situation but so far have not been seen to do anything. Big lorries had been seen ignoring the signs and trying to negotiate right turns into Ormonde St. L Ranton stated she had explained to Mr Newell that following a successful outcome for the parking management scheme there would still be other issues that the residents intended to raise with the council.
B Smith also stated she had been approached by many residents who wished the Association to take up other issues as well as the car parking. One issue was the fact that one of the crossings on Chester Rd/Ormonde St had been removed. This meant that some residents had to negotiate three sets of crossings just to get from St Gabriel’s to Ormonde Street. The no right turn into Ormonde St down to Chatsworth St needed addressing as drivers were using Ewesley Road and the ABC streets to avoid the lights. Also the dangerous situation caused by the two sets of pedestrian lights on Chester Rd outside the hospital entrance. This was very confusing to pedestrians and drivers alike. M Adamson reported that the Bus Company were doing their own survey of the traffic on Chester Road as they too were not happy with the situation. A Robinson agreed to request a meeting with Mr Newell. The meeting agreed that letters should be sent to try and address these issues.

D Campbell reported that his wife had recently returned to work in the hospital following maternity leave to be told that one of the staff who was pregnant had reported finding a note on her car threatening violence if she continued to park in St Gabriel’s. The management had stated that if any more notes were received by any staff they would involve the police and seek legal action. A Robinson stated she had sent an e-mail to the Echo stating the Residents Association would never condone any such action or threats. On the whole the residents were sympathetic with the plight of visitors trying to park to attend the hospital. It was the
Hospitals fault that they were having problems. The meeting agreed that although frustration about the parking situation was understandable any threat of violence by any individual resident was not in the best interests of all parties. E Lardner stated there had been acid attacks and scratching of paintwork on cars including residents in St Gabriel’s recently. Each time the police had been involved. The meeting agreed that our condemnation of any such action be put on the blog. B Smith pointed out the written and verbal abuse went both ways. There have been many occasions when the residents have been on the receiving end of abuse by hospital staff and visitors. K Wilson reported one resident had had his concrete gate post demolished by a non-resident car trying to do a three point turn in the overcrowded street. The car driver did not stay to accept blame or apologise. Fortunately the registration was noted and the police informed. Members at the meeting reported occasions when the residents have helped hospital staff to change car tyres and on one occasion even helped the staff who could not remember where they had parked their car!

The meeting closed at 8.15pm
Next meeting to be held in St Joseph’s Parish Centre on Tuesday 3rd August at 7.0pm.

Next meeting: Tuesday 6th July

Representatives from the Residents association recently met with council officers and Councillors from the three wards to form a working group with the aim of finding a solution to the current parking situation. The progress to date will be discussed at tomorrows meeting and a summary will be posted here shortly.

Notes from Junes meeting follow:

Amanda opened the meeting by welcoming John Lowther and Dave Campbell from the Green Party. Asked to introduce themselves, Mr Lowther said he lives in Pallion on a street near shops and regularly had problems with car parking; plus he thought it was good to take a keen interest in the community. Mr Campbell said he too is from Pallion and although he is not affected by parking, his wife works at the hospital and needs to find a parking space. He would like to help in finding a happy solution for everyone.
Amanda also welcomed the councillors present: Cllr O'Connor (Millfield), Cllr Essl (Barnes) and Cllr Dixon (Millfield).

Meetings
The Minutes of the meeting held on 4th May were circulated together with Notes of a meeting held with representatives of the Council on 25th May in Ewesley Road Methodist Church Hall.

Linda reported that on Thursday, 27th May, a sub-committee consisting of Amanda, Susan and herself had met Councillor Martin (Barnes) at his request. She began by reporting that Cllr Martin had said the 400 permits to be issued by the hospital would be allocated to 6 zones and that the Council would not withdraw those permits. Cllr Essl disputed this opening statement, saying that following the meeting of the 25th May the Sunderland West area group were looking at the Residents' Association plans for two short 1 hour parking restrictions under which the hospital do not get any permits and that Cllr Martin's statements would appear to refer to the previous rejected consultations. Cllr Dixon too felt that Cllr Martin was confusing the issue because last week the Council had agreed to form a sub-group to take our proposals forward, albeit possibly with a bit of tweaking. To resolve the confusion thus created, it was agreed that we write to Cllr Watson seeking clarification of the situation.

Susan reminded the meeting that this is not a political issue; it is a community issue. We will accept help from wherever it comes. Linda also pointed out that we have to listen to all councillors and we expect them to work for us, not against us.

The proposals submitted to the Council at the meeting of 25th May were discussed. At this stage nothing has been decided except that there will be some cost involved.

Cllr O'Connor advised that a meeting of the Council's Task and Finish Group is to be held on 15th June and that the Council will carry out door-to-door consultations (not leaflets) in selected areas soon. The exercise should be completed by the school holidays this year. He agreed with Elizabeth that prior notice of the consultation date should be given to enable residents to be available to present their views.

Discussion ensued regarding the format and timing of the consultation exercise. Cllr Dixon recalled that Cllr Watson had said the Council will work with the Residents' Association from the outset (Notes of Meeting, page 2). This now appears to have changed as the Council is to carry out its own consultations first, after which they will present their proposals to the Association for comment. Our own working group is set up ready to work with the Council's Task Force and Dave Campbell accepted Amanda's invitation to join our working group.
Amanda will ask Cllr Watson when the working group is to start working, pressing for it to be before the summer recess and Cllr O'Connor offered to help by getting dates for them to get together.

Due to the confusion created by tonight's reports, which conflict with our understanding of what should be happening, members voted in favour of Elizabeth/Linda's proposal that the Association should move forward on the basis of statements made at the meeting of 25th May and recorded in the Notes. As Ian Pearson had been unable to attend that meeting, Amanda will advise him of what was agreed.

Amanda reported that she, Michael Essl, Beryl Smith and Tom Hall had met Julie Elliott, MP for Sunderland Central, the first MP to try and help us. Essentially the parking problem is not a matter for her; it is a Council matter. However, she is taking a keen interest and is arranging to introduce herself to the hospital's Chief Executive, Ken Bremner, and the parking matter will probably be raised. Julie will be trying to push for a solution.

AGM - Election of Officers
Everyone is to receive a voting form for nomination/election of officers at the AGM.

Recap
Cllr Dixon requested a recap of the next steps:
• Amanda to speak to Paul Watson tomorrow informing him we have formed a working group and asking when can we have a meeting.
• Cllr O'Connor is getting a couple of dates for meetings, preferably early evening, and will advise Amanda.

Next Meeting – Annual General Meeting
7.00 pm Tuesday, 6th July, 2010 in St Joseph's Parish Centre

The meeting closed at 8.10 pm

Meeting: Tuesday 1st June

The next Barnes, Pallion and Millfield meeting will be held on Tuesday 1st June at 7pm at St Josephs Parish Centre.

Members of the committee recently met with local councillors from each of the three wards along with council officers involved in traffic and parking in the city. Discussions focused on possible solutions to the parking situation in the area and a working group involving the residents, Councillors and council officials is to be formed in the hope that a pilot scheme can be established which is acceptable to people living the area. This will be the main item on the agenda for the meeting on Tuesday - all are welcome.


A summary of the last BPMRA meeting held on 4th May follows:

Amanda opened the meeting by asking the members to agree the previous minutes as a true record. This was agreed. She then went on to inform the meeting about correspondence sent and received. The National Health Ombudsman had replied to our letter requesting his involvement in order to press the Hospital Trust and the Council to get together to find a speedy sensible solution to our parking problems. He informed us that he would be contacting the other parties involved. Mr Stephen Pickering had replied to our letter agreeing to a further meeting. A letter had been sent to Mr K Bremner, Chief Executive Hospital Trust expressing our disappointment and anger at his patronising reply to our previous letter. The Police had still not replied to our letters requesting a meeting. According to the Citizens Charter they should have replied within 15 working days. A further letter to be sent. The Police had promised they would answer all calls regarding inconsiderate and dangerous parking, but when they do turn up they say they can do nothing. Many of the cars parked are blatantly against the traffic laws but the Police are allowing them to park on pavements and junctions so as not to restrict the extra traffic caused by the new traffic light system on Chester Road. This is not good enough.

The meeting expressed its anger at the candidates for election all jumping on the Hospital parking bandwagon in order to attract votes. Where have they been when we needed their support? The meeting agreed that following the forthcoming election, the winning candidates should be contacted inviting them to meet with us.

The meeting expressed their disappointment at the lack of support from the residents on Chester Road which were badly affected and also the businesses in the area. We need their input to continue our campaign. Following discussion the meeting agreed that the recent Council consultation had covered too wide an area and included residents not yet affected. We would do our own consultation limited to the streets affected only. We would put to the residents a scheme similar to that operated in the Freeman Hospital area. Susan and Morris had been to the Freeman area and met with the residents. They too had suffered our problems but since the residents only parking scheme had been introduced they were happy. Residents only parking was restricted to 1hr in the morning and 1hr in the afternoon, but this was enough to deter the hospital staff from parking all day. Staff had tried to bribe the residents into letting them park for a price but to no avail. Also, since this scheme had been introduced, the Hospital had built a six storey car park operated by a private car parking firm.

Following discussion the meeting was in agreement that the residents should not be asked to pay for any scheme as the situation was not their fault. In other authorities the local Hospital had been asked to contribute towards the cost of financing similar schemes. Also ticket parking meters on the Hospital side of Kayll Road and one side of Wilson St would provide monies to finance administration. The meeting also agreed no consideration to be given to Hospital staff parking permits. The meeting agreed a sub-committee to be formed to produce a pro-forma consultation leaflet stating our simple, sensible parking scheme - to be delivered to each resident in the streets most affected for their comments – these to be collected within a few days. We can then present the Council with our recommendations. The meeting agreed to impress upon the residents how the value of their houses had deteriorated. Publicity through the local newspapers would be of help.

The meeting went on to discuss other avenues of protest including parking our own cars on the streets and blocking access to Hospital staff and protests at council meetings.
Elizabeth informed the meeting that our Annual General Meeting was due. The meeting agreed to discuss it at the next meeting.
The meeting discussed asking the council to help improve our streets by providing flowers boxes and baskets as they had done in other areas of the city.

The meeting closed at 8.30pm
Next meeting to be on Tuesday 1st June at 7.0pm St Josephs Parish Centre.

Meeting: Tuesday 4th May

Minutes of the last meeting are posted below and include a discussion on the results of the consultation on residentas parking schemes. Briefly, the Council have rejected the plans as the result of the consultation was too close with 446 voting for the proposals and 463 against.

Next meeting is Tuesday 4th May at 7pm

Minutes of Meeting 6th April 2010
Amanda opened the meeting by going quickly going through the minutes of the previous meeting. Following the residents’ concerns expressed at the last meeting, a letter was sent to Mr Stephen Pickering asking for clarification on the situation regarding Blue Badge Holders rights to park in Resident Only areas, what results had been gained from the last Public Consultation, and were the council any further forward in their plans to form a management committee to look at City Wide park and ride implementation. As yet no reply had been received despite the fact that the results of the consultation had been announced at a recent council meeting. Apparently, because the residents had voted 446 for and 463 against, the council did not feel able to go ahead with residents only parking. The announcement was only made public because the conservative councillor had pressed for the results. Would the results have ever been made public otherwise? The meeting agreed that the majority of residents against the consultation had done so because the proposal put to them was both complicated and costly. Also the council had canvassed too large an area, including those residents not yet affected. This had been done deliberately in order to get a negative response.

A letter had been received rather belatedly and with apologies for the delay from Mr Ken Bremner, Chief Executive of Sunderland Hospital Trust. In the letter he stated that the new extension was more priority than a multi-storey car park which would ease the residents stress. His letter was quite patronising and offered no practical intention by the Trust to find a solution to our parking problems. The meeting agreed that both the Council and Hospital Trust had no intention of helping us and were happy to let us continue to suffer. A three line letter had been received from Cllr Paul Watson, Leader of the Council stating the bus stop on Chester Road had been reinstated. No explanation or response to the issues of through traffic, Hospital parking or the state of our pavements and roads put to him in our previous letter was mentioned.

The meeting discussed our future strategies. These included inviting the councillors for our areas to attend a meeting with us and a possible further public meeting. Blockading the side streets and campaigning at council meetings were also options discussed. P Dixon advised the residents to put forward their own sensible Residents Only Parking strategy that would meet the needs of the local residents and businesses. In order to do this it was necessary to survey other successful Residents Only schemes, such as that at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle which covered a large area. Middlesbrough’s Residents’ Only parking scheme was free to residents. How was this funded? M and S Adamson offered to survey the Freeman Hospital residents and businesses for their opinions on how their system was working. The meeting agreed that any strategy should be applied to only those streets immediately affected by the parking problems. Then we could put together a simpler, workable strategy and put this to the residents along with a publicity campaign involving the local newspapers. If they agreed, then the Council could not ignore the majority decision. Once a sensible Residents’ Only parking strategy was in place, then as staff and visitors started to park further out, the system could be expanded. The meeting agreed that the present heavy traffic in the side streets of Sunderland, city wide could not be beneficial to the health and well being of Sunderland residents. It was a well known fact that traffic pollution was a contributory factor in the rising numbers of childhood asthma being diagnosed. The meeting also discussed the fact that our house prices had fallen and this had nothing to do with the recession. Potential buyers would be put off by the amount of cars parked and volume of traffic.

The meeting agreed that Amanda should contact the Echo expressing the Association’s anger and disappointment with the way the Council have handled the “consultation”.
The meeting noted that the new Pallion Health Centre would be bigger but would include room for a further thirty cars on-site. Even so, this would add to the residents’ problems as all cars on the new Health Centre site would be for their staff and patients only. Hospital staff would no longer be able to park there.
B Smith pointed out that the council had promised some time ago to do a further traffic survey in the area but nothing more had been heard.

Hanging Basket Project
Elizabeth reported that she had tried to contact SEED but so far to no avail. The meeting agreed with her that it was probably too late in the season to go ahead with the project this year but would try again next year. Elizabeth stated it was still possible to buy ready-made baskets from the local council nursery and sell them on to the residents at a subsidised price.

Any Other Business
The meeting was informed that the Hospital were raising the parking charges on-site.
Revised bigger polite car notices had been printed for use by the residents.

The meeting closed at 8.15pm
The next meeting to be held Tuesday 4th May at 7.0pm. Venue to be arranged.

Meeting: Tuesday 6th April

The next meeting will be on Thuesday 6th at 7pm in St Josephs Parish Centre.
All welcome.

Notes from the March meeting, including a summary of the meeting with Mr Stephen Pickering form the City Council are as follows:

Amanda opened the meeting by presenting M Stanger’s resignation as Vice-Chairperson owing to family commitments. Linda Ranton was proposed and seconded and accepted by the meeting as Vice-Chairperson in her place. M Vickers had also let it be known that he would be unable to attend further meetings but still wished to take an active part whenever possible.

Amanda went over the minutes of the previous meeting and correspondence. As yet still no reply had been received to our letter to the Chief Executive of Trust Headquarters. Stephen Pickering, Deputy Executive Director of Sunderland Civic Centre had replied and requested to meet with representatives of the Association on 23rd February at 3.0pm. This meeting was held in E Lardner’s house. Seven members of the Association attended along with Mr Ian Pearson (Traffic Management). Mr Pickering refused to allow the meeting to be recorded. The meeting put ten questions to Mr Pickering as follows:-

Q1: What are the results of the consultation and when will they be made public? Mr Pickering stated they were still collating the great amount of replies received and the results would be made public as soon as possible.
Q2: Do you agree that each house should be entitled to 1 free permit and what about the cost of each permit? Ian Pearson stated that research proved that residents who did not own cars were tempted to sell their permits on to non-residents therefore each resident would have to register their car. The meeting on the whole felt that this was highly unlikely and was accusing the residents of being dishonest.
Q3: Could the Council consider a city wide park and ride scheme such as Durham and York? This could include the hospital route. Mr Pearson stated the Council had considered this for years and a new management team would be formed to sort this out!
Q4: Have the Council considered the effect of Pallion Health Centre’s new car park facilities which is future will prevent use by hospital staff? Mr Pearson stated they were looking into this.
Q5: Is it feasible to have double yellow lines in back lanes 10 metres from the junction? Mr Pearson stated the Highway Code advises no parking within 10 metres of a junction and double yellow lines take precedence. When it was pointed out to Mr Pearson that many


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houses were less than 10 metres from junctions and residents would not be able to park outside their own homes he had no answer for this. It was pointed out to Mr Pickering that local traffic had increased considerably since the new junction system on Kayll Rd/Chester Rd had been installed and the situation was now a nightmare. Mr Pickering stated a new traffic survey was to take place soon.
Q6: How does this situation affect Blue Badge Holders? Mr Pearson stated that Blue Badge holders could park on double yellow lines as long as they are not causing an obstruction to the junction. Mr Pickering agreed that some people were abusing the system and it was being looked into. Mr Pearson stated that residents would only be allowed to park on double yellow lines for loading/offloading only. It was still not defined at the meeting whether or not Blue Badge holders would be able to park in residents’ only areas.
Q7: Are the Council aware that the people living in the blue area will get the same problems that the red areas are already facing? Mr Pearson agreed that the problem would be pushed further out but if the blue area had been made residents parking only as well then the problem would be pushed further out still. He further stated it would depend on how far people would be prepared to walk!
Q8: If the hospital staff are to be allowed 400 permits in the 1st year and then decreased yearly, how will this be monitored and who issues the permits, hospital or council? Mr Pearson stated the permits will be a council issue and the figure will reduce yearly, so in about four years time there will only be a few issued to the hospital staff. Mr Pickering stated they were hoping to push the hospital towards park and ride. It was pointed out to Mr Pickering that the present park and ride was not working as it did not extend to include the variable hours worked by hospital staff. Mr Pickering was asked who would gain from the revenue gained by residents only parking. Mr Pearson stated the hospital and council needed to break even. It was pointed out to Mr Pearson that park and ride would improve the environment and less money would need to be spent on road maintenance.
Q9: Are parking metres planned for the hospital side of Kayll Road? Mr Pickering stated there would be pay and display metres. He would have to look into how this would affect Blue Badge holders.
Q10: What maximum size vehicles are the permits intended for? Mr Pickering stated average size cars only. Large commercial vehicles would need special permission from GVOL to park overnight in a residential area. This would be monitored.
As all the questions had now been asked and answered to the best of the two council officers’ ability, the floor was then opened to the members of the committee.

The officers were asked would there be residents’ only signs and where would they go. The officers were not sure where the signs would go. The officers were again asked about the increased traffic in the side streets caused by the new traffic management system at the Kayll Rd/Chester Rd junction. Mr Pickering stated the regional traffic signal services were trying to sort this out. The bus stop on Chester Rd had been suspended to help alleviate this. It was pointed out to Mr Pickering that this would not help. The officers were asked why it was not


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possible to make the hospital build a multi-storey car park. Mr Pearson stated they could not
force the hospital to do this. When asked why the Council had not in the past made the hospital provide adequate parking for staff and visitors when submitting expansion plans, Mr
Pearson stated they would then have been accused of preventing the hospital from providing essential care.
The meeting ended at 4.0pm.

The meeting discussed the comments made and agreed that the residents were being made to pay to rectify a situation caused by disregard of the Hospital Trust for the feelings of their staff, visitors and local residents by their plans to expand and also mismanagement by the Council of the Hospital Trust’s planning applications in the past. Each household should be entitled to a free parking permit. The accusation that residents could potentially sell on car parking permits to hospital staff was insulting. People without cars relied on their visitors, especially the elderly and disabled. Why should they have to pay £40 per year for essential visits and utility maintenance. Other authorities offered free or considerably reduced visitors permits. The meeting agreed that the statement that in certain circumstances residents could apply for dispensation from the council for essential visits, would be complicated and confusing to implement and elderly/vulnerable people would not always be aware of their right to request this. The meeting agreed the decision by the council to look into a park and ride scheme, although better late than never, was a positive move. The decision to allow 400 staff cars to park in “Designated areas” would be unworkable as there would not be enough room to accommodate them if limited to the areas stated on the consultation map. The meeting agreed a letter be sent to Mr Pickering asking for clarification of the Blue Badge holder rights to park in residents’ only areas. Also a copy of K Wilson’s research of other authorities parking schemes to included in letter. K Wilkinson suggested, and the meeting agreed, letters be sent to both the Parliamentary and NHS Ombudsmen stating our case. The meeting agreed a letter be sent to Nexus and the Council requesting reinstatement of the bus stop on Chester Road. The meeting also agreed letters be sent to the Echo regarding all the issues discussed. P Dixon stated a local long-standing business had been refused a licence because of parking problems, yet the hospital could be granted their expansion plans with no thought for parking problems caused. The meeting agreed that local shops were closing and this would mean a decline in local services and closed shops would invite vandalism and make the area “run-down”.

Hanging Basket Project
E Lardner put forward a proposal that she had researched whereby a Grass Roots grant could be obtained in order to provide workshops on making and maintaining hanging baskets. This was organised by SEED who worked to help provide a greener environment for residents. Our streets had lost their grass verges and trees, maybe this project would go some way to compensate for this. The meeting agreed it would also show the Council that as they were


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doing nothing to help improve our environment then we were prepared to do it ourselves. Local councillors could be approached to help. We could publicise this project and prove to
the Council we were not just “a lobby group” set up because of the parking problems. Some of the members volunteered to meet with SEED representatives to discuss this project further. Councillor Dixon informed the meeting that he had gained a £50,000 grant towards improving the Millfield environment. Hendon had also recently received similar help. The meeting agreed to ask Barnes and Pallion Councillors if they could help in the same way.

Any Other Business
The meeting discussed the deplorable state of the roads caused by both hospital parking and recent bad weather. Potholes were appearing daily. P Dixon asked for photos and details so he could take this up with the council. He had recently had some success with repairs being done to some parts of Millfield. The meeting agreed we could consider requesting the council to take up some of the tarmac on the side streets and go back to the old cobbled roads as had been done in the Sunniside area of the town centre. This could bring back some of the old charm and character of our streets as well as being practical.

The meeting closed at 8.15pm
Next meeting to be Tuesday 6th April at 7.0pm.

Update

The next BPMRA meeting will be held this coming Tuesday, 2nd March at 7pm in St Josephs Parish Centre. Details of last weeks meeting with the Council officers will be top of the agenda! Questions and answers from the meeting will then be posted here on the blog.

Minutes of the last meeting on the 9th February at St Josephs Parish Centre:

Amanda opened the meeting by showing copies of letters sent to Mr Stephen Pickering, CSO Stuart Hodgkiss, and Chief Executive Sunderland Royal Hospital, also letters of complaint about the consultation and its proposals written by two residents of Ewesley Road to the Leader of the Council and Mr Stephen Pickering (Deputy Chief Executive Sunderland Civic Centre). No reply had yet been received from the Hospital Chief Executive. Stephen Pickering had written requesting a meeting with representatives of the association on February 23rd. Following discussion the meeting agreed the basic format of questions they felt needed answering, particularly how any parking management scheme would be policed? Also how was the parking provision for hospital staff to be monitored and where would they park? How the proposed double yellow lines would affect residents own parking. Hopefully Mr Pickering would also be able to give some idea of how the consultation process had gone and the outcome. K Wilkinson, B Smith, T Hall and
L Ranton agreed to attend the meeting along with E Lardner and A Robinson.
K Wilson stated she could provide information from research into other successful city residential parking schemes presently operated to show Mr Pickering.

Work would soon be starting on knocking down and rebuilding Pallion Health Centre. When finished the new Health Centre would have parking for their own staff and patients only. The meeting agreed this would also have an increased affect on parking in the side streets in Millfield.

Any Other Business
The police were putting notices on parked cars causing obstruction. S Adamson to enquire if more could be printed for the residents to place on cars.

The St Gabriels bus stop on Chester Road had been put out of action. The nearest bus stop for residents of St Gabriels Estate, ABC Streets and the Westlands to get to the City Centre was now Priory Grove or the Hospital entrance on Chester Road. Elderly and disabled residents were being made to suffer for a slight increase in traffic flow at the already congested crossing. The meeting was informed Nexus were responsible for the positioning of bus stops. A letter to be written to them requesting them to reconsider their actions.

The meeting closed at 8.15pm
The next meeting to be Tuesday 2nd March at 7.0pm in St Joseph’s Parish Centre.

More Questions to be Asked

Representatives of the Residents' Association have the opportunity to meet with a senior official from the Council to discuss the proposals for a parking scheme which residents were recently consulted on.

We are aware that many residents still have questions about the scheme which were not answered satisfactorily during the consutation process in December. Therefore, if you have any questions or concerns let us know either by leaving a comment at the end of this post, by emailing us or by phone or text.

All comments/questions to us by the 20th February please.


Change to meetings:
Please note that the monthly BPMRA meetings will change to the first Tuesday of each month from March, at 7pm in St Josephs Parish Centre. Next meeting: 2nd March.

Meeting: Tuesday 9th February

The next Residents Association meeting will take place on Tuesday 9th at 7pm in St Josephs Parish Centre. Everyone is welcome. We hope to have answers to some of the questions which have been put to representatives from the Council, the hospital and the Police!


Minutes of the meeting held January 12th 2010:

Amanda opened the meeting by showing copies of letters sent by B Smith and fellow residents of Ewesley Road to Stephen Pickering, Deputy Executive Director of Sunderland Civic Centre, expressing their disappointment and anger at the way in which the consultation exercise was carried out and the lack of information given regarding many points of the planned parking management scheme. They also stated their strong disapproval of some of the parking plans proposed. A letter had also been sent to Cllr Martin asking why he was so unsupportive of the residents in his constituency. A letter had been received by B Smith in answer to the letters, basically stating that the plans were still in the consultation phase. He thought the consultation had been well organised and had only received two letters of complaint. He ended by stating the Council could not force the Hospital to build a multi-storey car park. The meeting agreed that noticeably more voices of complaint were heard at the consultation. A letter had been sent by the Committee to Mr Pickering stating the many concerns raised at the December meeting and noting that Mr Pickering himself attended the consultation and could have been left in no doubt about the residents feelings. A request for the time scale of the consultation result being made public had also been requested. The letter had been sent late owing to Christmas holidays etc but as yet there had been no reply received.

P Dixon pointed out that it may be possible to organise a petition on the Downing St website. The meeting agreed we needed to know the outcome of the consultation before we could decide on further action.

L Ranton stated it might be wiser to send all correspondence by recorded delivery in order to guarantee replies within the 15 working days stated in the Citizens Charter. It was also proposed to correspond with Stephen Pickering by e-mail.

Following discussion the committee agreed the best and easiest option for parking management was for 1st permits to be issued by house, not applications for individual cars. A City wide park and ride scheme such as York or Durham would solve a lot of the traffic problems for the whole of Sunderland including the Hospital.

The committee suggested a letter be sent to the Hospital Trust suggesting they give a multi-storey car park further consideration as it was noted that the possibility and sighting had already been considered in the past by the Hospital but waived because of costs. Funding towards the costs could possibly be gained by approaching i.e. the Government or NHS.

The meeting discussed the rights of Blue Badge holders in the new parking management scheme. CSO Hodgkiss from Northumbria Police for the Barnes area had been in touch by telephone offering his contact number for members of the public noticing cars parked blocking entrances or parked dangerously. His number is 0191 5679204. S Adamson to contact Northumbria Police to ask if they could attend a meeting to provide information regarding parking issues.

Next Meeting: Tuesday 12th January

Happy New Year to all residents.

The next Residents Association meeting will be held on Tuesday 12th January at 7pm at St Josephs Parish Centre, Rutland Street. All welcome.

A summary of the Decembers meeting is posted below:

Minutes of Meeting held on Tuesday 8th December 2009
in St Joseph's Parish Centre at 7.00 pm

Minutes of Previous Meeting/Chairman's Update
The meeting promised by Mr Steven Pickering, the Council's Deputy Executive Direct of Services, to discuss the revised proposals before they were made public did not materialise. Plus, we are still awaiting a reply to the Secretary's letter of 18th November in which she enclosed a copy of our "Option 9" proposals. The Chairman/Secretary will write to Mr Pickering again.

Car Park Scheme Consultation
Members reported that officers attending the Consultation on 30th November were unable to answer their questions. Following discussion it was agreed to seek clarification of the following points:
• Are double yellow lines in back lanes part of the scheme?
• How many hospital staff permits will be made available? (Cllr Martin in his West End News - Autumn 2009 says 400. Council officers at Consultation did not know.)
• If a resident doesn't have a car, can they apply for a permit for a family member?
• Is there a limit on the number of visitors' permits per household?
• How will parking restrictions affect Blue Badge holders?
• Are local businesses being adequately catered for in the proposals?
• At the moment residents of Colchester Terrace do not have a problem with parking, but the proposals will create an issue as half the terrace is designated a red area whilst across the road the residents are in a blue area. What are the Council's comments on this?

Paul Dixon stressed this was a consultation exercise, a start to getting a scheme in place which will solve the parking problems. It will run until 21 December. We need to write to the Council with our views.

Some other points raised by members:
• They do not agree with permits being made available to the hospital. They would like to see residents only parking.
• Residents should not be charged for having visitors.
• The proposed 2-hour limit for parking will do nothing to help those streets currently badly affected. As one car leaves, another will take its place, exactly as happens now.
• Allowing limited parking times, say 2 hours per day, to outsiders could help alleviate the problems felt in the worst affected streets.
• It was noted that problem with parked City taxis has not been so bad recently. Michael Essl suggested writing to Mr Humphreys, Chief Taxi Enforcement Officer at the Environment Department if necessary.

Following discussion it was agreed by the majority that the best way forward to solve the residents parking problems is to write to the Council agreeing with their Option 8 in principle but not in detail. We will offer our own counter-proposal, our Residents Option 9 (as reported in Minutes of 10 November 2009) as a solution. The Chairman will contact the Sunderland Echo for publicity.