15/2/2007

Letters

Please press for review of town's crazy parking

Cllr John Pearson was surely not being entirely open or candid in his letter last week, when he referred to a suggestion being made that there was a saving to come from the restoration of free all-day, on-street parking in Fleet Road.

In an endeavour to bridge the 2007-08 budgetary gap in Hart District Council’s finances and continue to provide the vital funds required for the 24/7 CCTV system coverage, the council’s car park officers came up with the suggestion of turning the 26 red bays in the three Fleet car parks back to normal parking spaces, thereby providing the necessary additional revenue of some £25,000 per annum.

Cllr Pearson, in his effort to rubbish the officers’ estimated additional income, puts forward the erroneous idea that savings could be realised only if the council car parks were otherwise full. He appears not to appreciate that motorists wishing to park will pay for their short stay when there are no free bays.

The reality is that Cllr Pearson is a new councillor and rides his bicycle from Stockton Avenue to town, so he cannot be expected to appreciate that, when Hampshire County Council foisted their improvement scheme on to Fleet town centre, the retailers lost more than 6,500 shopping opportunities per week. It certainly is no surprise that those retailers who have closed shop in the past nine months to whom I spoke said the loss of parking on the road was the main factor contributing to their demise.

Cllr Pearson would help all of us, retailers and shoppers alike, if he put his weight behind my ongoing efforts to get Hampshire County Council to immediately review the crazy situation we face in Fleet Road. We all witness on-street parking spaces (so-called unloading bays) left unused for most of the time between 9am and 3pm except for the occasional commercial vehicle driver who has either popped into McDonald’s or KFC for a snack or maybe stopped to do a little convenience shopping.

Cllr Pearson would do well to speak to his fellow Cllr Sharyn Wheale, who in her county position adamantly holds to the view that we should be made to suffer a full year of misery and then wait a further three months while the police compile their statistics to tell us if the pedestrian casualty rate has improved because of the scheme.

Cllr Wheale must be made fully aware that many people have indeed suffered trips, falls and injury, and narrow misses standing at the various unprotected pavement corners. I would ask everyone who has been involved in an incident, however small, to write or email me so that I may record the totality of pedestrian misadventures in Fleet Road over the past year. 

Cllr Denis Gotel, Fleet portfolio holder, Hart District Council Cabinet

First printed in: Aldershot News and Mail