Councillors and committees

Agenda item

WEY ROAD AND ROUND OAK ROAD PARKING PROPOSALS [FOR DECISION - EXECUTIVE FUNCTION]

At the local committee meeting of 5 December 2019, the committee agreed to the development of a parking scheme for Wey Road and Round Oak Road, which was to be advertised along with the other parking schemes approved at that meeting as part of the 2019/20 Elmbridge Parking Review.

 

This report brings forward a scheme and asks for approval to advertise it accordingly.

 

Decision:

That the Local Committee (Elmbridge) agreed that:

 

    i.          The county council’s intention to introduce the proposal shown in Annex 1 is formally advertised, and subject to statutory consultation.

   ii.          If objections are received the Parking Strategy and Implementation Team Manager is authorised to try and resolve them;

  iii.          If any objections cannot be resolved, the Parking Strategy and Implementation Team Manager, in consultation with the Chairman/Vice Chairman of this committee and the county councillor for the division, decides whether or not they should be acceded to and therefore whether the order should be made, with or without modifications.

 

Reasons:  To better manage parking demand in Wey Road and Round Oak Road, so as to improve access for short term parking for visitors to the Weybridge area, whilst maintaining parking as needed by residents and their visitors.

Minutes:

Declarations of Interest: None.

 

Officers attending: Adrian Harris, Parking Engineer

 

Petitions, Public Questions/Statements: 5 questions received, see minute 6/20 above

 

Member discussion –key points

 

The Parking Engineer indicated that the proposal is for a controlled parking zone including, permit bays, paid for parking bays and time limited bays.  The options are to agree the proposals for statutory consultation advertisement, amend the proposals or cancel them.

 

Some members raised concerns that the proposal will displace parking to other areas when there seems to be very little issue with the current situation.

 

The local county councillor indicated that he understood the strength of feeling both for and against the proposals, but this did arise from a petition signed by a number of local residents.  He had discussed a potential scheme with the parking team and had undertaken a site visit.  He had also consulted the local Borough members.  The discussion is not on whether this scheme should be implemented, but whether it should be advertised for comment to gauge the level of support in the area.  If the scheme were to go ahead he would like to see a substantial majority of people in favour of the scheme and their views on whether it should be implemented Monday-Friday or Monday-Saturday.  Monday-Saturday would be in line with other restrictions in nearby roads.

 

The local Borough member, Ashley Tilling, was invited to speak on the matter.  He indicated that he could see a good reason not to implement a scheme in this area as there are a number of roads in this area, closer to the High Street, which do not have restrictions and the roads in question have adequate off street parking available to residents.  He felt that no further changes should be made until the effects of the implementation of agreed schemes in other roads could be assessed.

 

There was no suggestion that the Committee was trying to impose something which residents don’t want. Advertising the proposals would give residents the opportunity to give a view on whether they were in favour of the proposals and if so which days they would prefer.  One member was concerned at the removal of all day parking opportunities in favour of short stay for shoppers.  The Parking Engineer indicated that this was the request in the original petition, there would still be some all-day parking but this would be chargeable.

 

It was not possible to give a firm idea of what a clear majority in favour would be as it depends on the number of responses and the associated comments, but somewhere close to 70% would probably be an indication of the support required.

 

Resolved that:

 

    i.          The county council’s intention to introduce the proposal shown in Annex 1 is formally advertised, and subject to statutory consultation.

   ii.          If objections are received the Parking Strategy and Implementation Team Manager is authorised to try and resolve them;

  iii.          If any objections cannot be resolved, the Parking Strategy and Implementation Team Manager, in consultation with the Chairman/Vice Chairman of this committee and the county councillor for the division, decides whether or not they should be acceded to and therefore whether the order should be made, with or without modifications.

 

Reasons:  To better manage parking demand in Wey Road and Round Oak Road, so as to improve access for short term parking for visitors to the Weybridge area, whilst maintaining parking as needed by residents and their visitors.

Supporting documents: