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Residents Forum comments
Use this forum if you have a comment or question about residents parking permits or residential visitor parking.Should you wish to contribute, please use the following email: parkingforum@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.
Subject: Residential Parking Schemes
Date: 30/07/2008
Comment: Further to previous comments and responses, concerning the Portsmouth City Council residential parking schemes, I would wish to ask how the council felt justified in raising the fee for an additional residents parking permit from the original £12 fee – which was freely quoted by the council in order to ‘sell’ the scheme to residents during the parking referendum exercise – to an obscene rise (approximately 400% increase) once the scheme had been implemented. We the residents with the Bevis Road boundary are stuck with the scheme.
No doubt the question has been raised and previously whitewashed by the council. However such issues should never be forgotten but promulgated to all other areas currently, or potentially being ‘sold’ or, as in my personal view ‘misled’ by the council, so that they should be aware of this level of unreasonable exploitation.
In effect a resident living within the scheme can be financially penalised on account of a house number. Less than 100 metres from my house (Stamshaw Road) residents may park as many vehicles as they wish adjacent to their property (space permitting) without restriction or permit. However I am told I would have to pay £50 to park a second car belonging to my spouse. The scheme can not ever have been intended as an incentive to limit family owned cars to a single vehicle, especially in this age where our gainful employment is often dictated by distance to work and a decline in the scope (but increase in cost) or public transport services.
Therefore is appears nothing more than yet another ‘camouflaged’ source of revenue with little clear relief or rebate being offered without our council tax bills.
AC – Nelson, Portsmouth
Response:
Subject: Residents Parking - Marked Bays
Date: 18/07/2008
Comment: I have been reading with interest other comments on the forum. I have already put forward my views on my voting form.
I am sure others have raised this and I have no idea of the costing implications for the Council but if cars were forced to park tidily within painted bays, a lot more spaces would be made available. I very often see people purposely parking two cars, so that they can move up later to allow a family member or visitor to park. It is very frustrating after a days work to be driving round the block trying to park or unload shopping. I can see how tempers are raised in these situations.
Marked bays would also sort out the extra long commercial trucks that seem to be on the increase. I myself drive a van but it is the same length or shorter than some cars or people carriers.
DC - Portsmouth
Response: Experience has shown marking out individual parking bays to be largely unsuccessful. Each bay must be marked at a minimum of 6 metres in length to allow room to manoeuvre and to accommodate larger vehicles. This results in space being wasted when smaller vehicles park together or a motorcycle uses a bay.
No action can be taken against vehicles that do not park within the lines, and therefore this measure would not prevent people parking across two bays and then moving up later. Once one or two vehicles have ignored the markings, the bays become redundant. Evidence from roads where marked bays have been trialled suggests the markings can be successful initially, but soon become ignored and are then left to fade because residents do not want the council to waste further money removing them.
It can be frustrating to see awkward sized gaps left in Portsmouth’s congested roads, but it is often a simple case of several parking movements taking place involving vehicles of different sizes. Residents are generally aware that parking is at a premium and make an effort to park sensibly.
Subject: Residents Parking
Date: 15/07/2008
Comment: Just because some people work for a living, do an honest days work and have a company vehicle, rather than being a pen pusher or a social scrounger. Why should we have this unfair burden of tax be put upon us?
If a resident permit scheme is introduced then the Council would hold all the vehicle data which residents may not wish to be recorded, yet another database that could be subject to abuse.
SL – North End, Portsmouth
Response: We must not lose sight of the fact that it is residents’ who request assistance from the City Council in a bid to alleviate the ever-increasing difficulty they face in endeavouring to park near their home. These difficulties, identified by residents, are caused by commercial vehicles, shoppers, commuters etc.
Via a survey, the residents in their majority will decide whether they want a scheme or not. If they do, then we will assist, if they do not, then at least we are satisfied that we have tried to help with a situation we are told is making life difficult.
Subject: Wymering Review Survey
Date: 08/07/2008
Comment: I am wondering, we had a 6 month survey in September 2007 after the parking scheme had been in force for 6 months, when are we going to get the results of this survey? When I asked in approximately February I was told the results were through but had to go before the council first? Funny I thought it was what the residents wanted, not the council (or is it only what the residents want initially and then it’s up to the council). It really would be nice to see what the survey said though of course you can guarantee most of the residents didn’t bother to send back surveys so it’s not really a clear picture.
When I have asked other residents in my road, they all agree with me that we only need the parking scheme Monday to Friday 7am to 6pm. The problem with parking only came about because of the work going on at the QA Hospital so why are our friends and families being punished for this with a parking scheme in force at unnecessary times?
Like many other residents in the City I have to agree that this is just another stealth tax. I’m all for residents parking schemes when necessary but not when it’s just a way of keeping the councils budgets balanced.
RW - Cosham, Portsmouth
Response: It would appear that there may have been some confusion when you telephoned to establish what the results of the review survey were for your area. This may have occurred as a survey was carried out in September 2007 of the area immediately west and adjoining the scheme currently in operation which you lice within. A review survey was also carried out in October 2007 of the existing residents parking scheme in operation.
We can only assume that when contact was made with the Parking Service the member of staff to which you spoke with thought you were referring to the survey in September 2007 and not the review survey. For this error we apologise.
This would explain why you were advised that the results needed to be passed to the Cabinet Member for a decision to be made on the schemes future. This is the process that is followed for new areas that have a residents parking survey carried out and not areas that already have a residents parking scheme in operation.
The review survey results were completed for your area in November 2007 and published on the Portsmouth City Council website.
The operational days and times of the scheme that you live within was chosen by the residents during the initial survey in May 2006. If as you say a number of residents feel that the scheme’s operational days and times need to be changed we would advise you and them to contact your local ward councillors. Any changes to a scheme are subject to public consultation which involves the advertising of the proposals for the legal 21-day period.
Subject: Residents Parking - Wilberforce Road
Date: 23/06/2008
Comment: Is this not a stealth tax for people who live in certain areas? I have residents parking but on occasion drive a company pool car and have now twice forgotten to put a visitor’s permit in the window of the loan vehicle and have paid handsomely for my error!
I believe residents parking has not helped the issue of vehicles in the City it has just pushed them elsewhere. I have never had to walk more than 5 minutes to my front door before or after residents parking came in. I can still park the loan car out of a permit zone and still get home in quarter of an hour! But I’m outside else’s house! So where do they park? The whole thing is quite ridiculous and a further tax on people that can’t afford it but need a car to work.
JB – St Thomas, Portsmouth
Response: The provision of a residents parking scheme is a decision taken by the local residents for the local area. The rules of such a scheme are made very clear to the residents before they make a decision as to if they do or do not want a residents parking scheme. The only way s scheme can work properly is by us taking enforcement action against those who should not, or appear not to have authority to park there. By not displaying your permit to park we have no way of knowing if you do or do not have authority to park.