The Shoddy 'Controlled Parking Zone' Consultation

bristol | local government | opinion/analysis Sunday July 06, 2008 20:29 by St.Pauls Resident

It asks all the wrong, leading questions. Another 'Con'-sultation?

Bristol City Council has started a consultation for around 53,000 residents about brining in a 'Controlled Parking Zone' - where residents pay an admin fee and in exchange get the right to park in their street.

Here is what the official press release says;
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"The Residents' Parking Scheme will comprise a series of Residents' Parking Zones. A 'Zone' identifies a group of streets within which a permit will enable the resident to park. The number of streets will vary, but each Zone is likely to contain 300 to 500 households.

Councillor Mark Bradshaw, Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: “This ambitious scheme will make it easier for motorists living near to the centre of our city to park nearer their homes, while improving road safety and removing obstructions from the roads which can cause serious delays for emergency vehicles.

“I'm confident that the scheme will also help deter commuters from parking all day in residential streets and encourage more people to use public transport and park and ride services to reach the city centre.

“Across the city residents have been expressing interest in their area becoming part of a parking scheme - we are listening and acting on their concerns about the parking situation in Bristol. As a major city we need to have a more effective means of managing our limited on-street parking space, in a way other towns and cities have done for some time.

“This is not a money-making exercise. All of the money collected from the sale of permits will be used to administer, maintain and enforce the scheme."
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The proposed costs are £40 for one car, £80 for the second and £500 for a third. There would be no right to a 2nd or 3rd permit.

Right from the off the consultation gets off to a shaky start;

"1. Is there enough space for you to park your vehicles in your street?"

What if you don't have a car? No space in the form for that. They just assume you do. But wait, it goes on;

"3. Based on the principles described in this document, would you support a Residents’ Parking Scheme in your street?"

You can agree here or disagree - event strongly if you wish. But if you disagree then you must answer question 4;

"4. If you have answered Disagree or Strongly Disagree to Q3, are there particular principles that you consider unacceptable? Please tick all that apply:"

No need to explain your thinking if you agree then? And - there is a strange question in 5 too;

"If the majority of residents in an area immediately adjacent to your own street were in favour of development of a Residents’ Parking Zone for their area would you reconsider your response (bearing in mind that a nearby zone is likely to displace commuters and others who would not be eligible for permits into adjacent streets)?"

Huh? This seems to say, that if you don't agree - then would you change your mind if other people did? A leading question in my opinion if ever I saw one. It seems to me that they are trying to muddy the waters on the question to strengthen the Council's view; so putting the 'con' into consultation?

Finally at question 7 you are asked if you have a have a car. Why was this not at No.1 and if you answered '0' then you could skip the next couple of questions?

For the record, I don't have a car - but IMHO not all of St.Pauls has a parking problem as described by the council. We will then the Cabots Circus (Broadmead development) opens with its thousands of new car journeys per day - so to me it seems we are being asked to pay for a problem caused by the new shopping centre.

By creating a 'market' for parking I suspect that people without cars might be able to make a few quid by selling their spare place on eBay, so undermining the scheme.

Yes, there are areas of Bristol this might help in, but it seems that the council, having OKed a development to bring thousands of car into the centre each day, is now struggling to deal with the traffic fall-out that it will create. Decades of policies that favored the car above all else are to blame, and while I support measures to downgrade the car in our society - this seems a shoddy ham-fisted and non-holistic way of going about it. Not what a 'cycling city' should be doing at all - we need something more radical.

Press Release
http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/content/press-releases/20...me.en

Questionnaire
http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/content/Transport-Streets...re.en