Dear Sir,
Again, this may not be what people expect, or want to hear, about problematic parking and the damage being caused as a result. Throwing money at the obvious effects doesn’t address the underlying problem but can help create a false impression that the problem is being dealt with, which unfortunately is not the reality.
As with any problem in life you can’t effectively address it if you have no idea of the size of the challenges you are facing and at the moment no one appears to have a real idea of how wide spread the problem is, but we have plenty of individuals in the community having to deal the consequences on a daily basis. While the weather is dry the situation is bad enough but come the bad weather the problem will be considerably worse, so it makes sense to use the time we have to take a moment to step back and gain a better perspective on the size of the challenges we are facing.
As I have already stated the town council in itself are limited to what it can do because it can’t allocate money to be spent or issue enforcements because the responsibility lies with Livin and Durham County Council. But we believe we do have a duty of care to do everything in our power to raise the profile of this continuing problem, that is negatively affecting people’s quality of life.
If money has to be spent then let it be when everyone concerned has a greater understanding of the situation so the decision process can be both measured and appropriate and thus stand a better chance of alleviating some of the issues in a more meaningful and productive way.
This isn’t a time for empty promises, raising expectations or false hopes, it’s about facing facts of a problem most people wished didn’t exist, but it does and it’s not just going to disappear of its own accord. Parking is always going to be a problem, but it’s a community based problem requiring a long term community based solution. We believe the first step is to get the community working together so we can provide both Livin and Durham County Council irrefutable proof of a real problem that they need to start taking seriously.
Cllr Phillip Hawkins and Cllr Neville Jones