Post in Residents Parking

2007 Mar 17 12:52 UTC

I tend to agree that "the times they are a changing", and whereas I would
have been totally agin residents parking some years ago I would be more
prepared to go with the flow now. The problem comes with finding the cash!
We risk pricing Southville folk off the road while commuters will always
find a way to pay, park free somewhere else, or change job. (and if you have
not noticed local B2 employment is evaporating like petrol in the sun as
speculators push everything toward flat-building)

I agree with John Purkiss a central time  period of residents parking,
slightly out of kilter with another district so that the same enforcement
team can be used twice or more on one set of wages to minimise costs, might
be cost effective.

And everyone's circumstances are both different and change.

Personally I could say I moved in here because of easy motorway access and
the view of the river. 20 years later one of those reasons is much less
relevant! But access to the town centre is if anything worse, and more
expensive unless you use a bicycle.
Personally I have more than one car but one is a major hobby, created most
of its carbon footprint in the 1960's, does very little mileage and lives
off-street, (one can only drive one car at once!) so I'm apprehensive about
second car costs.

Part of the present problem is that the economy is relatively booming so a
lot of people are coming North into central Bristol from the South. That
could change particularly if property were to crash again, as rapid churn
rate in older housing creates a lot of invisible jobs for small building
tradesmen, as well as the very visible new builds.

Personally I think a docks footbridge near SSGB is essential (but perhaps I
should start another discussion group on that!) As Ben Barker has pointed
out elsewhere in the past that would make Vauxhall Bridge far more  popular
with pedestrians to and from Southville, but also attract the commuters cars
to my end of Coronation Road in the same way as they land like flies on
cowpats in and around Osborne Rd! (to use the gaol ferry footbridge, and
then Princes st bridge on foot.).

What we all need to be aware of is that the NCP car park behind the
Industrial Museum will close suddenly if and when development of Wapping
Warf commences and that COULD put 200-300 cars in our backstreets overnight,
assuming some of the 500 will make other arrangements. A sudden change of
that sort could be precipitative in terms of our needing a parking scheme.
Watch that space!

All best
Stephen Wickham (Coronation Road, west end)