The Bradley Stoke Journal

South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) has opened a public consultation on plans to change the Traffic Regulation Order governing parking restrictions in Pear Tree Road.

The move is associated with the introduction of Civil Parking Enforcement, which moved the responsibility for enforcing parking regulations from the police to local authorities.

Council officers say that enforcing parking restrictions is difficult if the markings on the road do not match the restrictions described in the relevant order.

In Pear Tree Road, a 47m stretch of road between Aspleys Mead and Cooks Close currently has no double yellow lines on either side of the road, whereas the order describes restrictions for the same stretch.

The Council is proposing to bring the order into line with the road markings, i.e. reduce its scope. There will be no change to the double yellow lines on the road.

Illegal and inconsiderate parking along Pear Tree Road has been a regular issue of discussion at Bradley Stoke’s Safer and Stronger Community Group meetings. Customers visiting the Tesco Express and other stores at Bradley Pavilions are said to be the biggest culprits.

The Council’s consultation runs until Thursday 25th February 2010.

More information:

• Have Your Say – Amendments to Waiting Restrictions Order (SGC)

A private enforcement company has been brought in to combat unauthorised parking around the edge of the Tesco petrol filling station at Bradley Stoke’s Willow Brook Centre.

Notices threatening rogue motorists with a penalty charge of £70 have been erected around the area. The signs bear the name of South West Parking Solutions, a Cheltenham company.

A reporter from The Journal witnessed an official taking several photos of a car parked in the area before securing a penalty notice behind the windscreen wiper of the vehicle. One further car was also seen to have a notice attached.

Willow Brook Centre Manager Scott Lahive told The Journal:

“The restriction have been introduced due to the high level of illegal parking we have experienced in this area. The area had been clearly lined as a loading/delivery bay since opening.”

“Earlier in the year the road markings were also extended and made even more prominent however abuse persists. Parking in this area has an operational effect on the centre as this section is for centre deliveries and fuel deliveries.”

“This hasn’t been a decision we have taken lightly and we have trialed other options before commencing with parking penalties, however the situation has got progressively worse and we are left with no other option.”

Bowsland Green Primary School has submitted a planning application to create eleven additional parking places within the school grounds despite having to withdraw a similar plan earlier this year because planning officials considered it “contentious”.

South Gloucestershire Council’s Local Plan suggests a cap of one parking space for every two members of staff, but with 15 spaces already available for the 30 staff (twelve of whom are part-time), the school agreed to drop the request from its earlier application in April.

Other aspects of that earlier plan, including the creation of a new school hall, were approved by the council in July.

Supporting documentation accompanying the latest application details the number of visitors to the school and the extent of community activities that take place there. The school’s agents say that these extra demands justify relaxing the cap:

As you will see, the school is very active and takes a pride in making itself an active hub for community activities. Clearly these activities bring to the school a large number of vehicles that are not reflected or catered for within the T8 guidance of spaces per members of staff.

The result of this is the inevitable large number of cars over-spilling from the school and parking in adjacent residential areas. Clearly this causes friction between the school and the local residents, which the Head Mistress, Clare Whitaker, constantly battles to address and placate.

One neighbour of the school has already pledged support for the proposal. The consultation period runs until Friday 27th November.

Scott Lahive, manager of the Willow Brook Centre, is set to address a meeting of Bradley Stoke’s Safer & Stronger Community Group this Tuesday evening.

Local residents are expected to quiz Mr Lahive about parking facilities at the new town centre site following a flood of negative comments in the Bradley Stoke Examiner’s forums.

Also due to attend the meeting is  Jim Daniels of South Gloucestershire Council’s Highways and Transportation department, who will address “parking issues” in the town. It is thought that the police crackdown on inconsiderate parking around Meadowbrook Primary School will feature in Mr Daniels’ contribution.

There will also be the opportunity to see and comment on the latest plans for a new play park at the Jubilee Green in Savages Wood Road. The so-called “Beacon Playground” is being funded via a grant from the Big Lottery Fund and could be open as early as Easter next year, according to information disclosed at a recent Bradley Stoke Town Council (BSTC) meeting.

Anti-social behaviour associated with the Manor Farm Crescent pedestrian access route into the Willow Brook Centre, agreed as a priority issue at the last SSCG meeting in September,  is also likely to be discussed at the meeting. Local residents have reacted angrily to BSTC’s recent decision to postpone for six months any action on potential closure of the access point.

The SSCG meeting takes place at 7pm on Tuesday (9th December) at Brook Way Community Centre.