Resident's outcry after parking permits "ploy"

Drivers forced to park on new on-street parking, residents argue

WEST Berkshire Council is being accused of abandoning its residential parking policy in order to force drivers to pay to park in its new on-street spaces 200 yards away.

All exemptions, including permit parking, are about to be removed from the Jesmond Dene, Leys Gardens and Goldwell Drive area of Speen, north of Newbury.

The council’s proposal will take away every inch of free parking, making it impossible for everyone, including vital visitors such as doctors, nursing staff, health carers and workmen on urgent repairs, to find a place to park.

Furious residents, many of whom have more than one car, say that the proposal is a ploy to force families to use the council’s new pay-for parking bays 200 yards away on Old Bath Road.

They also believe that the proposals contradict the council’s updated parking policy, especially the increased size of single-vehicle garages.

Council project engineer Alex Drysdale has told residents that single-vehicle gar-ages in these three areas were being regarded as potential parking spaces.

However, residents say that Mr Drysdale has ignored the council’s announcement last October that single-vehicle garages were now too small to accommodate most modern family cars.

In a published document, West Berkshire Council said: “Garages will not be counted as a parking space for the purpose of meeting the required levels of parking set out in this policy.

“The council’s parking standards, adopted in 2002, require updating.

“Internal measurements for [the garages] to be practical, and used for parking a vehicle, is 3m wide by 6m.”

The single-vehicle garages currently under review fall way below this mark, at only 2.42m wide by 5.54m long.

One angry resident said: “The whole thing smells. We have little doubt that it’s a cheap charade to get people to pay to park for spaces that are not being used a few hundred yards away. It’s yet another mugging exercise.”

Another resident protested: “I’ve lived happily in Goldwell Drive for 25 years, so please don’t ruin everything for me, and my neighbours, by imposing so-called solutions to problems that don’t exist.

“I accept that one or two might be for it for purely personal reasons but, from the number I’ve spoken to, the vast majority are against it.

“Please don’t make it difficult for medical people, workmen, family and friends to visit our homes by taking away every inch of parking space.”

Residents also say that the ward’s two county councillors – Jeanette Clifford (Con) and Lynne Doherty (Con) – have not contacted them to canvass opinions, and provide advice and support.

Mrs Doherty said: “We’ll be looking at how the residents have responded to the council. We’ve not gone door-to-door.”

Council spokeswoman Peta Stoddart-Crompton said: “The proposals and subsequent consultation were brought about both by requests from residents experiencing parking issues, and of the new Traffic Sign Regulations and General Directions 2016.

“As the consultation period only finished on April 28, the council will now collate and assess the responses before making a final decision.

“It is not a ploy to force people to park in council car parks.”