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.