Tonight, Cllr Tom Watson presents a report on Car Parking to the Town Council.
At a time when Ulverston is suffering from a lack of space for car parking:
Why is Stockbridge Lane Car Park always empty?
Here is a story of mindblowing inaction on the part of our Councillors at all levels of Government: Town, District and County.
Will our new County Councillors, James Airey and Peter Hornby make a difference ?
Lastly the view of the Town Traders and the inaction of their representatives.
I apologise for the quality of the filming and the length of the report. I would do it differently a second time - however I have other things in my life that are important!
Though I did produce several edited versions, no matter how many different ways I submitted these to Youtube they were rejected "for unknown reasons". However this original version, though over the regulation 10 mins went through without a problem.
Any advice on uploading to Youtube from vodeo from a (bloodyminded) Sony Camera, Gratefully accepted!
5 comments:
Nice one Geoff.
I went to the Town Council meeting tonight to hear Tom Watson's 'report' which turned out to be a simple statement recommending double yellow lines for a particular intersection.
I thought we were going to receive a serious consideration of the parking problems in the whole town.
How does one get Cllrs to take this problem seriously.
I shall try to get some figures from SLDC on Car parking revenue and take it from there.
I shall write my own report : now I've written it - I'll have to write it.
Meanwhile a blistering attack on the system to the papers will release the steam and in the long term achieve something. Keep chipping away - chip, chip, chip, chip.
No wonder most people chose to give up and clear off to the allotment!
Possibly your most pointless and futile post ever Geoff. You're not telling us anything we didn't already know and it could all equally apply to Barrow or Dalton .
IMHO the crux of the matter is lack of parking regs enforcement in Ulverston. It was a sad day when the police passed it over to councils and in the case of SLDC they just don't do it.
I have enquired why we do not have a permanent traffic warden- 2 reasons are given !1. they are short of wardens - so why not employ some more - they are self -financing. and 2.many yellow lines in town are not legal e.g. both taxi ranks, Market St one-way ,and many others. They have not been made legal by a Traffic Regulation Order ,which is the responsibility of County.So even on the rare occasions cars get ticketed ,quite a number can be successfully challenged,
Most people are well aware of this anomaly and clog up the town all day ,park on corners,blind bends ,pavements ,you name it. Traffic cannot be prevented from using New Market St even on market days. The hatched area outside the drill hall is no parking but people think the lines are parking bays and who will stop them ? Its a total cock-up.
With regard to parking fees ,yes I agree,the underused car parks should be free or a nominal daily charge say 50p or £1 to encourage their use.
The stock answer from SLDC re parking revenue will be that they cannot break it down by area.
Good luck.
Futile - this echos the attitude of our cllrs. I reckon its worth a hard try.
I disagree that it is happening anywhere with responsible leadership.
The parking offenses is another issue.
Here are a few facts from 'someone who knows':
1. The Town Council have requested that no parking tickets are given out on market days.
2. We have car parking officers on duty two days a week for the whole of Ulverston this includes the areas around our schools that can be particularly bad.
3. Nearly all the people who threaten to defend themselves for one reason or another will get off because the District will not pay for lawyers to go to court on their behalf.
4. The interpretation of loading and unloading is so lax (unlike other parts of the country) that you can be stopping on the double yellow lines outside Bargain Booze to get money out of the cash machine and not be given a ticket. One butcher in town regularly parks his van on the double yellow lines across from his shop. On rare occasions he is asked to shift it which he does and pays for a ticket on one of the car parks - and then it's back next day . .
The none action of our cllrs in sorting this mess out in Ulverston is a joke.
5. To add to our problems we have people who have resident permits to park their cars on busy shopping streets like King Street, thus depriving the shops of trade from shoppers who jsut want to pick up a few items which can be done in ten minutes - more trade lost.
6. Then we have streets like Hartley street that have silly restrictions so that many of the spaces are empty, whilst in Lightburn Road with its bus route and car repair business the road is crammed full of parked cars on both sides.
You can understand that I'm glad that I didn't get elected and have to sort this lot out as I intended to.
I'm never-the-less going to keep chipping away in every way I can and will get some success, I'm sure, in the coming years - and so will you when the join the "A" team of Bolshi Ulverstonians!
Perhaps we need a crazy uniform to wear equipped with our rapid fire cameras that capture every transgression of inconsiderate folk!
Well we are in agreement on one thing - it's a total mess and nobody has the will to sort it out. I am aware the wardens have been asked to keep away on market days and most other days it seems.
I have spoken to the mayor ,past and present ,wardens,SLDC Chief Parking Officer or some such title,police ,everybody agrees its a cock up. It needs pressure from Town Council to SLDC and then to County level. It isn't happening ,thats why I used the word futile.
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