Parking charges will discourage shoppers. I am thrilled that we may have someone stopping the police from parking on the pavement and people from parking on the crossing.

I have to say that I never, ever, ever (even on bonfire night)  have not been able to park at any time of day or night within a reasonable walklng distance of Bellas cafe. Just leave things as they are.

A proportion of the council tax from each of the new builds we have had over the last few years at about £1500 pa from each dwelling should surely be used to create the amenities needed (as expressed to their elected represenatives) by residents.  More parking spaces though generate more traffic  (including from the idle and overweight that really could do with the walk/cycle).  If the able bodied amongst us were to leave our cars at home more often-the less able would be able to park more easily.

Maybe all business's on the Bings should be required to make provision for their employees parking-to this end there is a car park available to rent right now. 

We could equally always pave over paradise

cheers

Edited by user 10 April 2009 19:40:45(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Parking in Whaley is one of the more contentious posts on this forum, with several pages of posts. Unfortunately , whenever plans for progress are put forward by parties , very little attention towards parking is given. In talking to the person developing plans for the future development of the transhipment warehouse, it became clear that the plan did not encompass parking,and that parking was assumed to be largely absorbed by the Bingswood car park. In talking to the person involved in the planning of development of Bingswood industrial estate post 2nd bridge, it became clear that parking space was not a primary focus in the plans, and that despite the number of additional jobs and vehicles that would be hopefuly attracted into the area, the issue about where they might park had not been thought through. Recently, a company within Bingswood Industrial estate cancelled their arrangement for parking within the estate and as a result a large number of cars are now trying to find parking spaces elsewhere in Whaley. At the most recent Town Council meeting, it was pointed out by a local resident that the doctors surgery in Whaley has seen recent expansion and there are therfore a number of staff vehicles which have added to parking congestion. Recent changes to parking enforcement now mean that the limited parking spaces in Whaley are now more ridgidly enforced, and as a result people in areas closely peripheral to the centre of Whaley are seeing unfamiliar cars being parked where they would rather they weren't !

On top of all of this is a realistic desire to make Whaley Bridge a more attractive place to visit, both in terms of the Heritage Lottery Fund application for the Memorial Park, and the general aspirations of businesses in Whaley Bridge , and of Whaley Bridge Town Council, who would like to bring new jobs and new opportunities into Whaley Bridge. My own view, which does differ from some others, who believe that people can travel here by train , by bus, by bike, by boat or on foot, is that the majority of people who might visit Whaley Bridge over the coming years will do so by car. Were I asked to plot a graph of people visiting Whaley by car over the coming years, I might expect it to peak over the next 10  to 20 years, declining therafter in line with reduced oil supplies, and as increased taxes on fuel and legislation on use of vehicles  kicks in. You can argue all you want about timing, but  eventually parking wont be a problem, because there wont be any cars. However,  in the near future, if we want to bring jobs into Whaley and people into Whaley, then I believe that we have to accept that this inevitably means that there will be more cars coming into Whaley.

At the council meeting before last, I proposed that WBTC/HPBC should look at addressing the parking issues in Whaley Bridge. I put forward some of the suggestions that were raised on this forum, as well as some others. I am completely against paying for parking in small villages, as I think it would be disasterous for trade.  Primarily, I suggested that HPBC should look at extending the existing Bingswood car park towards the river, which I believe is entirely possible with a little bit of engineering work to ensure that where the extended car park meets the river, the ground remains stable. Piling may well be neccessary to achieve this.  Cllr Pritchard ( as an HPBC Borough councillor) reported that further extension of the car park had been discussed before  it was built, and he was going to see if HPBC could look at this again. I'll report back on this in due course. I also believe that the existing parking space layout  in the car park is less than optimal, and with some rearrangement  of the existing space it may be possible to create a number of new spaces.

 Parking in Whaley Bridge will never be as easy as it was in R.S.S's picture which is attached. He sent me this some weeks ago and I apologize for the delay in getting it on.  As he says...

" I see there is a discussion going on about the lack of parking in Whaley. Well as you can see from the attached photo I had no problems at all this Saturday morning. It was very early, i will admit,I even spotted our good leader on his way home from the corner shop. "

Cheers

Jon.

CllrJonG attached the following image(s):

“Britain’s Got Talent” and this has what to do with parking in Whaley!  

Please don't turn an important topic into another Jake/R.S.S banter thread!

Great photo Jon!

Edited by user 18 May 2009 22:48:58(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified