Agenda item

Forward Plan Ref: 2019/188

Contact: Hugh Potter, Group Manager – Area Operations Hub Tel: 07766 998704

Report by Director for Community Operations (Interim) (CMDE13).

The report presents responses received to a statutory consultation to introduce and amend waiting restrictions on residential roads within Bicester where parking - in particular by commuters – is resulting in road safety and access problems for residents.  The proposals put forward following discussions and site meetings with officers and local members will be funded by developer contributions.

The Cabinet Member for the Environment is RECOMMENDED to approve the proposed waiting restrictions as advertised.

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The Cabinet Member for Environment considered (CMDE13) responses received to a statutory consultation to introduce and amend waiting restrictions on residential roads within Bicester where parking, in particular by commuters, was resulting in road safety and access problems for residents.  The proposals put forward following discussions and site meetings with officers and local members would be funded by developer contributions.

The Cabinet Member noted the following statement received from Steve and Louise Dixon, local residents who had during the consultation sent their broad approval for the proposed parking restrictions but with a concern regarding the different timings for each side of the road and how that might not solve the issue (as most of the parked vehicles belong to staff from nearby Eden Cars who could just switch sides at the appropriate time). They were pleased to see that that concern had been addressed in the report. However, in their additional submission they had asked about the possibility of resident permits being provided to allow a second household vehicle or visitor’s car to park outside their house during the restricted hours as none of the residents’ homes, including their own, was adjacent to the area of dangerous parking at the top of the road at the junction with Buckingham Road. Family/visitor parking would therefore not affect the passage of traffic entering and leaving the road in any way whatsoever. As the intention is to extend the restricted parking some way into the avenue this would be a big issue for them as they only had for one car on their drive. If we are unable to have a resident’s permit one of our household vehicles would have to be parked outside a fellow resident’s property a long way from our home causing inconvenience to them. Also they noted that a few residents had suggested double yellow lines on the road which they felt should be disregarded completely.

Rachael Shaer spoke as a resident of Browning Drive for nearly 20 years. Their  home was just outside the proposed waiting restriction zone along Browning Drive and near the Kingsley Road /Bunyan Road junction and 2 houses from Harts Veterinary centre on Browning Drive. She stated that in all the time she had lived there she had never witnessed severe parking issues in the proposed area. She accepted that there would be increased vehicles and parking having a parade of shops and a veterinary centre close by that consisted of  very short term parking and as there were no houses directly impacted she could not see an issue. She objected strongly to the proposed waiting restrictions being put in place for two main reasons. Firstly, if this went ahead then cars which could not access Harts Vet small car park would then not be able to park where they currently do which was generally on Browning Drive in the proposed waiting restriction zone. Although near the junction that was very wide with good vision and provided ample parking on a long stretch of road by the vets and a fenced/grassed area and so causing no obstructions. It had taken many years of communication with the vet’s practice to get them to encourage their ever-growing number of customers to park away from residents’ houses. They had had many years of blocked driveways, restricted access and not being able to park their own and visitors’ cars outside our own homes but if this proposal went ahead then they would be back to square one with all the problems they had before but worse. As well as access to her own and her neighbours’ properties being affected she was extremely concerned regarding her disabled parents who lived almost opposite the vet and the problems this would cause them and their carers having clear access daily. Secondly, when the car park for the shopping parade was full, which it often was at peak times, the extra cars would park either on the grass verges which would be ruined, along the busy Bucknell Road causing even more safety issues or along Browning Drive outside our houses again causing safety issues. We have families with children, elderly and disabled people who are all vulnerable.  In conclusion, all these restrictions would do would be to move and increase any parking issues further up the road causing access and safety issues to a great many more people than was happening now. These proposals would have a huge negative impact her family and the local neighbourhood.

County Councillor Michael Waine on behalf of fellow councillors Lawrie Stratford and Les Sibley spoke in support of the proposals They had as local County Councillors arranged for these proposals to come forward having worked with officers over a long period of time to respond to concerns from residents and had part funded the work through joint use of their respective Councillor Priority Funds. While fully supporting the proposals as recommended they accepted that they might not resolve all the parking problems in each area and could have knock-on effects of moving parking elsewhere and therefore they asked that should the recommendation be accepted a review be carried out six months following completion of the signage and lines to look at the impact of the measures. He gave an undertaking that should further work be needed to put in hand any further measures then they would again consider joint action with OCC using their Councillor Priority Funds.

Officers confirmed the proposals had been brought forward to address issues from the general growth in the Bicester area.

The Cabinet Member considered each of the elements individually. However, having regard to Browning Drive she was minded to defer those proposals having regard to the representations she had received from the local resident  and the officer report which had stated that more residents had been against the proposed restrictions than in favour and that even some of the supporters had raised concerns regarding displacement. Also, as there seemed to be some issues regarding future proposals for the vet’s practice there might be some merit in deferring those particular proposals.

Therefore, having regard to the information set out in the report before and the representations received during the meeting the Cabinet member for Environment confirmed her decision as follows:

to:

(a)           subject to a 6-month review approve the proposed waiting restrictions as advertised for:

Blake Road

Graham Road with the suggested additional area on the corner of Graham Road/Bucknell Road. 

Windmill Avenue

Fallowfields noting that if after a 6 month review an extended restriction was necessary that would be supported out of Councillor Priority Funding.

Green Close

Lambourne Crescent

Longfields – (& Fallowfields) as a first stage.

Maple Road

Moor Pond Close

Barry Avenue

Blenheim Drive

Ewart Close

Kingsley Road

Shakespeare Drive with implementation of the restriction delayed until after reinstatement of normal levels of public transport.

(b)             Browning Drive deferred to enable further consideration and investigation.

Signed………………………………………

Cabinet Member for Environment

Date of signing…………………………….