As a local councillor I am finding quite a lot of my time is being taken up with parking disputes, many of which have not been catered for by various authorities. Some of the problems brought up are:
Vehicles parking on pavements.
Vehicles parking on grassed community grounds.
Vehicles seemingly abandoned and taking up parking spaces.
Business vehicles parked up on roadsides or in parking bays.
Car sales business taking up parking spaces in a residential area.
A lot of these complaints are a result of selfish motorists who have no regard for others such as pedestrians with prams who are forced to use the road putting themselves at risk, and users of motorised disability aids who cannot use blocked paths.
Parking in front of drives also drives residents up the wall if you will pardon the pun.
School runs are a regular complaint where adjacent homes are inconvenienced by inconsiderate parking.
Perhaps it is time for the relevant authorities DCC, livin and planners to resolve some of these issues.
I have been told on several occasions that when Aycliffe was built parking was not an issue and perhaps that is true however, by 1968 my household had 3 cars and many others had too.
Ignoring the situation for half a century has not been a successful plan and now we are fighting a rearguard battle to try to keep up with the increase in the motoring population.
It may have been a useful ploy for our Constabulary to hand the policing of parking over to the County Council to save man hours dealing with these issues but with DCC claiming poverty we are restricted in the manpower they can employ to deal with problems arising.
Before I attract a load of political attacks I should point out that various Councillors have allocated funding at intervals to provide parking areas and for that I thank them.
I am of the opinion that we now require a joined up approach to the problems we have created and need to take a hard look at the options needed to resolve the parking situation.
Cllr Ken Robson