SHROPSHIRE Council is reviewing residents’ car parking in Bridgnorth, following concerns about the number of spaces and inflexibility of permit schemes. And residents will be given free permits during a trial period, before a final decision on parking in the town is made.
Feedback to the council has already indicated that there is demand for second permits which will be issued to residents who need them.
“The council has revised the parking zones in the town, which will build on the existing parking arrangements that Bridgnorth residents have shown are successful,” said council communications officer Laura Owen. “In some areas there will be no change and in other areas zones will be extended and/or merged.
“The benefit of this is that residents can try it out and let the council know whether the experiment works before a new traffic order is drawn up later in the year.
“During the trial residents will not be charged for permits.
“The council would like to stress that this scheme will not be enforced until April 1 of this year, and residents should apply for their permits by this date.
“A letter has been sent to each residential property within the scheme, detailing which areas they can park in, how to get a permit and how to feed back to the council.
Information will also be made available at www.shropshire.gov.uk/parking, detailing progress on the experiment. Council officers also met with Bridgnorth Town Council last week to discuss the scheme.”
Martin Taylor Smith, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for strategic planning and transport, said: “We hope this scheme will offer some flexibility for residents to park in Bridgnorth and we encourage people to let us know their opinions on the scheme during the consultation over the summer.
“Having listened to residents we have introduced the option for a second permit for those residents who need to park additional vehicles.”
Les Winwood and John Hurst-Knight, Shropshire Councillors for Bridgnorth West and Tasley area, said: “It is really important that local people let us know their thoughts during the consultation. We hope this scheme will improve parking for residents, however we need to know that residents support the scheme.”
Christian Lea and William Parr, Shropshire Councillors for Bridgnorth East and Astley Abbots, said: “We are pleased that Shropshire Council has listened to our concerns and those of local residents, by deciding to allow second permits to be made available to those residents who need them.
“We also very much welcome the additional parking spaces that are proposed along Riverside and Southwell Riverside, which will help to ease the parking problems that residents often encounter.
“By seeking local residents’ views on Shropshire Council’s proposals, hopefully problems of congestion and obstruction in this area will be greatly reduced in the future.”
The council is also consulting on proposals to provide further residents’ parking allocation along Riverside/Southwell and to respond to problems raised by the Cartway/Riverside Residents Association by implementing lines to ease congestion and obstruction.
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