Agenda item
ITEMS FROM THE PUBLIC OR COUNCILLORS - TO RECEIVE DEPUTATIONS, STATEMENTS, PETITIONS OR QUESTIONS RELATING TO THE BUSINESS OF THIS MEETING
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Minutes:
Sally Rothwell addressed the Panel on behalf of the Circus Area Residents' Association and Vineyards Residents' Association in relation to agenda item 13 (Parking Strategy). A copy of the statement can be found on the Panel’s Minute Book, a summary is set out below.
‘The northern part of the Central Zone (the area north of Queen Square, George Street and Paragon), also known as Lower Lansdown, is predominantly residential in character. This is recognised in the 'Bath City-wide character appraisal', which is a Supplementary Planning Document and as such should inform Council decisions. There are a low proportion of business premises in Lower Lansdown (comparable to Zone 1).’
‘Residents in Lower Lansdown are unfairly treated compared with residents in the 'Outer Zones'. Although it is the most densely residential area in the city, there is almost no 'permit-holder only' parking. There are no resident visitor permits. In the Outer Zones there is a minimum of 50% permit-holder only places and residents can buy day permits for their visitors. The Central CPZ is now completely surrounded by the Outer Zones, where parking is very difficult for non-residents. Visitors head for Lower Lansdown and drive around looking for a space, adding to the congestion and pollution in the heart of the city. The result is close to 100% occupancy of parking bays in this area, while in the Outer Zones there are empty bays, with occupancy in some Zones as low as 8%. This places enormous pressure on residents of Lower Lansdown when they are trying to find a place to park in the area in which they live. (Many residents here, like most people, need to use a car more or less regularly).’
‘The current arrangements have developed without any overall strategy. When the Central CPZ was originally created in the 1970s the aim was to discourage parking in the centre. Parking was available on streets around the edge of the CPZ. This has now been completely reversed, so that the centre is almost the only place where visitors can park. Even here, on-street visitor parking is limited because 75% of the spaces are occupied by residents. There is still no published strategy and the draft parking strategy (as it stood earlier this year) completely failed to address the problems of central area residents. We do not see why this area should be singled out as the one place for visitors to city centre businesses to park. Visitors should be encouraged to use firstly the park-and-ride, and then off-street parking. If some on-street visitor parking is needed, the burden ought to be shared with the other residential areas surrounding the centre.
We ask the Panel to take note of the unfairness of the current arrangements for residents of our area, and to urge the Council to address the problem in its parking strategy.’
The Chairman thanked her for her statement.
Councillor Brian Webber asked if the statement could be passed to the Cabinet Member for Transport.
The Chairman replied that it would. She added that the questions that Councillor Webber had submitted would receive a written response, no later than 5 clear working days after the day of the meeting.