Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Local parking pressures


Transport Committee has now revisited the long-running saga of parking pressures in the local Shandon area ... affects me, both as a Local Councillor and resident!

The Transport Committee papers are all available here - with the specific Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) report here.

I did get along to the Committee Meeting and briefly spoke to the report (attached for ease of reference).

The Committee did agree to recommendations a) b) and c) - thus abandoning the CPZ-process - but did adjust recommendation d) so that some actions can still be continued for consideration. The actual text agreed was as follows:


Committee agrees recommendations a) to c) and to replace recommendation d) with:

"Instructs officials to work through the existing Parking Panel and Neighbourhood Partnership to discuss with residents living in the area bounded by Harrison Road, Slateford Road, Shandon Crescent, the South Suburban rail line and the Union Canal - to develop a package of measures which are designed and tailored to relieve the specific parking pressures affecting the Shandon area throughout the day and night.

Agrees that the Director of Services for Communities should report to the Committee on the proposed measures by the September TIE committee and that this report outline the regulatory alterations and non regulatory changes required to bring into effect the proposals along with a timescale for their implementation.  The report to also include detailed costings and supporting parking survey data analysis that examines the potential impacts on the internal network and surrounding areas of parking alterations.

Instructs the Head of Transport, in consultation with local members, to write to residents informing them of the outcome of the consultation and decision of the Committee."


Any actual  'reduction' in the current CPZ-Order would have meant re-advertisement, which would almost certainly have led to further objections from the surrounding area.

I also raised the issue of the 'equalities impact' of the abandonment of the current CPZ (as several of you had asked me to do) and this issue was acknowledged as particularly serious, by Officers present, and there was a clear (oral) commitment to further consider any impacts when developing recommendations flowing from the new d) as above.

So - whilst the CPZ has been dropped, other controls will be investigated and hopefully implemented.

One can only hope that the next 5-years will not see the interminable-drift of the last :-((

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