Agenda item

Forward Plan Ref: 2021/097

Contact: Tim Shickle, Group Manager – Traffic & Road Safety Tel: 07920 591545/Jim Whiting, Principal Officer – Parking Tel: 07584 581187

Report by Corporate Director Environment & Place (CMDHM8).

New Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs) are being proposed across Oxford to address numerous local issues, along with helping to support the delivery of wider transport initiatives across the City and will become increasingly important if policy proposals such as demand management mechanisms e.g. traffic restrictions, or promoting higher density development in the city, are agreed.

Following an informal consultation on possible additional CPZs in Oxford in late 2018 the former Cabinet Member for Environment on 25 April 2019 approved proceeding to formal consultation on new CPZs at Cowley Centre East, Cowley Centre West, Cowley Marsh, Headington Quarry, Hollow Way North, Lamarsh Road, Old Marston (south) , Sandhills  and Waterways  and, subject to funding, Hollow Way South, Florence Park and Temple Cowley.Following formal consultation, CPZs at Cowley Centre East, Cowley Centre West, Cowley Marsh, Headington Quarry, Hollow Way North, Old Marston (south) and Waterways were approved and implemented in 2020 and 2021 but with schemes at Lamarsh Road and Sandhills being deferred due to lower levels of support. These deferrals, together with the lower-than-expected costs for implementing the approved schemes, has enabled proceeding with formal consultation on schemes at Hollow Way South, Florence Park and Temple Cowley. This report presents consultation responses to the CPZ proposals for the Florence Park area and also additional no waiting at any time restrictions on Rymers Lane.

The Cabinet Member for Highway Management is RECOMMENDED to approve:

(a)       proposals as advertised for a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) in the Florence Park area;

(b)       proposed additional no waiting at any time restrictions on Rymers Lane.

New Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs) were being proposed across Oxford to address numerous local issues, along with helping to support the delivery of wider transport initiatives across the city. Following an informal consultation on possible additional CPZs in Oxford in late 2018 the former Cabinet Member for Environment on 25 April 2019 approved proceeding to formal consultation on new CPZs at Cowley Centre East, Cowley Centre West, Cowley Marsh, Headington Quarry, Hollow Way North, Lamarsh Road, Old Marston (south), Sandhills and Waterways and, subject to funding, Hollow Way South, Florence Park and Temple Cowley. Following formal consultation, CPZs at Cowley Centre East, Cowley Centre West, Cowley Marsh, Headington Quarry, Hollow Way North, Old Marston (south) and Waterways were approved and implemented in 2020 and 2021 but with schemes at Lamarsh Road and Sandhills being deferred due to lower levels of support. Those deferrals, together with the lower-than-expected costs for implementing the approved schemes, had enabled proceeding with formal consultation on schemes at Hollow Way South, Florence Park and Temple Cowley. This report (CMDHM8) presented consultation responses to the CPZ proposals for the Florence Park area and also additional no waiting at any time restrictions on Rymers Lane.

Amanda Drake Brockman spoke as a resident of Westbury Crescent and while not a resident of Florence Park she had an interest in the proposed CPZ as an allotment holder at Elder Stubbs. She was concerned about the proposed road markings planned for Rymers Lane as there were over 100 allotments at Elder Stubbs and many more allotment users as well as Restore and other charities working there. A large proportion of the gardeners were past retirement age and although staying active as long as possible they sometimes needed to travel to the allotments by car to deliver heavy items and with very little space for cars inside the gates allotment users needed to park nearby from time to time. Therefore, instead of double yellow lines on both sides of the road she asked for some short-term parking places on one side of Rymers Lane, near to the allotment gate which could also be used by families and less mobile people wanting to spend a couple of hours in the park where parking was limited. It would be a pity if these facilities were only accessible to those who were either fully mobile or registered disabled. Rymers Lane was more than wide enough to accommodate this as well as allow for cyclists travelling in both directions and she hoped that a compromise could be reached enabling all citizens to share the space.

Chris Heron spoke in support of CPZs across the city as a proven way of reducing commuter parking on residential streets, commuter journeys to and from these streets while promoting greater commuter uptake of existing large-scale car parks outside the city ring road.  Removing commuter parking would make city streets less congested and polluted, safer for pedestrians and cyclists and more accessible for emergency services.  Stopping commuter traffic at the ring road would improve bus journey times into the city making public transport into and around Oxford a more viable option for all.  Although he rarely experienced trouble parking his car he knew of parking issues on the east side of the estate with more and more commuter parking on Lawrence Road, Clive Road and Havelock Road.  CPZ enforcement would help solve issues of cars either blocking the road or pavements and parking on junction corners and for many, the annual CPZ fee would be money well spent to simply to improve their neighbourhood. He acknowledged that the CPZs were asking residents to pay for something that they hadn’t had to previously and reducing parking options for some which went some way to explaining the large numbers of objections during the consultation process but a consultation was not a referendum and the low response rate indicated to him that most people supported introduction of CPZs and it was the objectors who were in fact in the minority, when compared to the vast number of people who neither objected nor supported strongly enough to complete a council consultation, despite widespread publicity.  Traffic issues were without doubt very contentious but CPZs would help make Florence Park and Oxford overall a more liveable city, for both residents and commuters and he urged that the Florence park scheme be approved and the remaining CPZ schemes progressed quickly.

Comments in support of the proposals from County Councillor Hicks as set out in the report were noted.

The Cabinet Member for Highway Management thanked everyone for their input. Regrettably he felt unable to support the request made for specific arrangements for users at the Elder Stubbs allotments on the basis that there would be many requests for similar exceptions which could undermine the effectiveness of the proposals here and elsewhere. Reiterating his earlier statements about the need to do things differently it wasn’t feasible to continue to put more cars on roads which clearly did not have the capacity to cope and so having regard to the information set out in the report before him together with the representations made to him at the meeting confirmed his decision as follows:

to approve:

(a)       proposals as advertised for a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) in the Florence Park area;

(b)       proposed additional no waiting at any time restrictions on Rymers Lane.