Bradley Stoke Town Council has agreed to investigate an option for providing ‘pay car parking’ in the centre of Bradley Stoke after being approached by residents of the Brook Court ‘later living’ apartment complex, where there is an acknowledged shortage of parking spaces.
Roger Grimshaw, secretary of the residents’ association at Brook Court, originally approached the town council back in January, pointing out that there are only 18 spaces available for the 50 apartments at the Savages Wood site.
Concerns about inadequate parking at the development were raised by town councillors and local residents at the planning application stage, but these were dismissed by McCarthy & Stone (the developers) and South Gloucestershire Council who claimed that the close proximity of local services and the elderly nature of the residents would result in a low level of car ownership.
But with 16 residents said to be on a waiting list for reserved parking spaces at Brook Court, McCarthy & Stone has now admitted underestimating demand, saying it had “bucked the trend” for its developments across the country. In a letter to the town council, the company said it was “disappointed with the outcome at Brook Court” and, as a consequence, has enhanced the number of parking spaces being provided at two newer schemes in Yate and Chipping Sodbury.
Although a number of residents of Brook Court are currently receiving financial assistance to rent spaces in the car park of the nearby Three Brooks public house, this help is expected to be withdrawn next summer.
Speaking at the May meeting of the town council’s Planning Committee, Mr Grimshaw once again asked if the council could in any way support the concept of ‘pay parking’ in Bradley Stoke and asked if the vacant piece of land opposite the Tesco filling station might be used for this purpose.
Councillors noted that this parcel of land is in the ownership of South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) and has now been earmarked for housing after plans to construct a health centre on the site were abandoned by the NHS some years ago. However, the situation is complicated by the fact that access to the site would have to be from Hornbeam Close rather than from the entrance road into the Willow Brook Centre.
It was, however, pointed out that residents of Hornbeam Close might also welcome the provision of additional parking, as they also suffer from an underprovision of reserved spaces.
Mr Grimshaw urged councillors to support his proposal, saying it could generate a useful revenue stream for SGC while a housing developer was being sought for the vacant site.
He added that he expected McCarthy & Stone to “put their hands in their pocket” to help implement his idea.
The committee unanimously agreed to write to SGC, asking them to “consider using the site constructively, as car parking provision for Brook Court and other residents of Bradley Stoke, even if it is only as a temporary measure”.
Photo: Vacant land opposite the Tesco filling station.
This article originally appeared in the June 2014 edition of the Bradley Stoke Journal news magazine, delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to 9,450 homes in Bradley Stoke, Little Stoke and Stoke Lodge. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.
Photo: Brook Court residents David Tovey and Roger Grimshaw (right) in the car park of the McCarthy & Stone ‘later living’ apartment complex in Savages Wood Road, Bradley Stoke.
I have a relation who moved into a McCarthy & Stone elderly persons flat just outside Shrewsbury 8 years ago and the same problem exists there. The residents there had a raffle for the available slots and the unlucky ones are now on a waiting list and have to park “off site”.
The residents were no doubt aware of the limited parking when they bought these properties or did they not look at the plans? This is not the fault of anyone but McCarthy & Stone and it is their problem to sort out, not BSTC or SGC.
The land for sale where it is suggested that the “paid parking” is sited is residential land and worth a lot of money to SGC and it’s residents and I don’t think a few £’s a week parking fees will swell its coffers to anywhere near the same amount as selling it off.
Even if such a scheme was implemented, how long would it be before residents were complaining that they had to pay to park and then campaign to get the parking fees removed.
Maybe the dissatisfied residents should put their names down for the flats in Yate or Chipping Sodbury.
What builders seem to forget is that Bradley stoke is a commuter town. While I’m sure that there are busses to most places, it can take an awful long time to get around and outlying villages are not easy to get to. The elderly tend to see a car as a source of independence, so even if there are good bus services not all will readily give up their cars. It’s a bit chicken and egg, as if independent enough to live in one of these flats, probably still have a bit of get up and go, and probably still enjoying being able to go out in day trips and visiting relatives etc etc. it’s a bit of a dopey oversight by McCarthy and Stone who obviously forgot for a moment who their customers are!
Blame the South Glos Planners. They should insist that there are sufficient spaces available commensurate with number of dwellings. Equally the same should apply with commercial development. You only have to look at Woodlands Lane and Winterbourne end of Old Gloucester Road to see that insufficient on site parking was made available at the planning stage.
Agree with JonBoy, South Glos wont release expensive development land to be used as a car park
Why does the Willow Book Centre not cordon of a small section of parking and issue and offer this for a fixed, reasonable rent? After all it has cordoned of a spaces for reserved office/staff parking, food pick up and car washing already.
High density residential areas, including retirement areas, will always have limted parking and if this is an issue for you, perhaps you should consider living elsewhere.
Finally, I can’t see SGC releasing building land for parking when they do not parking targets but do have housing targets.
No there isn’t enough parking but that’s what its like everywhere around
these residents knew of how many spaces there was going to be when they bought these flats
I live in Germany and they tend to dig down and have underground parking why can we not do this in the uk.