Parking and Speeding In William Price Gardens

I have written to our local councillor, Katrina Trott, to enquire about the possibility of placing ‘20 is Plenty’ signage about the estate and possible changes to the parking restrictions currently in place. There are a number of people both residents and visitors that appear to exceed 20mph when driving about the estate. I would request that if you or your guests are so disposed you consider the large number of children that use the estate as a thoroughfare and the inconsiderate parking that often results in a poor sightline for both drivers and pedestrians. An accident waiting to happen that could be significantly mitigated by a more cautious approach to driving on the estate.

Katrina Trott forwarded my query to Chris Oldham (Traffic Management FBC). The most significant part of his response is as follows:

“We do not provide 20 is plenty signage, these are not enforceable speed limits, although they are useful as peer pressure. The only official 20mph schemes are arranged by HCC, but even then they are intended to be self enforcing because of difficulties getting actual enforcement, which can only be done by the Police.

With regard to the specific questions raised by Mr Saunders, it is present FBC policy not to have any further residents parking schemes, so this is therefore not an option.

With regard to the two points about providing double yellow lines and extending the single yellow lines, this would require a review of parking in the area generally, which in turn would need to go on to our request list. This would then need to be prioritised for action which is likely to take many months, due to the large numbers of complaints and requests about parking throughout the Borough.

To conclude, yes I would be happy to consider changing the waiting restrictions if we have some indication (as suggested by Mr Saunders) that a good proportion of the residents would want this. What this means is not that I need further convincing of the merits of taking this to the next stage, but rather that this needs to wait its turn to become prioritised high enough.”

In summary 20 is plenty will have to be addressed with HCC and any change to the parking restrictions cannot include residents only restrictions and must have the support of a good proportion of the residents. To that end I would like some feedback on the following proposals.

Proposal 1 - Do nothing, retain the status quo warts and all.

Proposal 2 - Extend the single yellow line into the 3 parking bays in William Price thus preventing the early birds parking all day and denying the parking spaces for residents, their guests and visiting tradesmen.

Proposal 3 - Provide a double yellow line on the corners of all junctions on the estate extending 15 yards from the junction and a double yellow line across the cut to Harrison Rd. This would permanently prevent parking on the corners and areas that significantly compromise sightline for other drivers and pedestrians.

Proposal 4 - Apply both Proposal 2 and 3.

I appreciate that there could be unintended consequences that could affect residents in other parts of this estate or indeed other proposals so please provide feedback to the following e-mail committee@plra.co.uk or pop round to No 21 WPG for a chat. Many thanks and safe driving both on and off the estate.