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Neil Ferris (NF), Acting
Director of City and Environmental Services introduced
himself. He explained that he had been
at CYC for fifteen months and welcomed the invitation to talk to
the residents to get a first hand understanding into their
concerns. He said that
there was no “magic wand” in respect of parking issues
but was aware that the University was having an impact on parking
and that it would be an ongoing problem in the area. NF said that the University had
obligations associated with their planning permission, one of which
was to carry out an annual survey across the campus where the
number of cars parking increases by more than 20% a year, this year
it was carried out in May/June.
The survey showed that there had been more than a 20% increase and
they are required to carry out a more details survey in the
Broadway/Heslington Road areas in
November. This survey will be
carried out by consultants on behalf of the University. We will then be in a position to come
back as a community to discuss options open to us.
The options currently available
are double yellow lines, no parking notices, and time related
restrictions. There was also the option
to move to a Resident’s Parking Scheme. As part of the University planning requirement
they are required to look at the number of people parking and
mitigate the impact. The University
have contributed to the Residents Parking in areas associated with
the University for a short period of time but this was dependent on
the degree of parking problems as to how much they would
contribute. The cost to a
resident of this scheme would be £100 per annum. This did not give the resident a right
to park outside his own home but it did give them the right to park
with in a designated area.
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Discussion
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Q
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Resident asked about the
ongoing parking impact since the new parking restrictions on
Heslington Lane had been put in
place.
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A
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KA said that the yellow lines
(paid for by the University) installed along Heslington Lane and Fulfordgate had improved parking issues
considerably, but had generated new concerns from houses in
Broadway, especially the first strip of MoD houses. It was felt that the University of York
needed to carry out some further work in this area to identify the
cause of the problems.
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Q
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The issue of the arrangements
for contractors’ vehicles parking when the Germany Beck
development got underway was raised. Concerns were expressed that
unless arrangements were made they would be parking in Fordlands Road and other local roads.
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A
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KA said that CYC were aware
that provision needed to be made for contractors parking and they
were having discussions with Persimmon Homes. He said that it was right that they should not
park on local roads.
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Q
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A resident asked whether it was
legal to park on roundabouts and
footpaths as that was what was happening at Westmoor Flats where four cars were regularly
parked and also in Glenn Close. Would
it be possible to have a scheme to remove the roundabout and
provide parking bays?
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A
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NF asked whether the
Fulford Residents Association had
reported this to the police.
KA said that these were long
standing issues but that if a larger scheme could be brought
forward it would be an improvement for Fordlands Crescent. As residents in these areas were council
tenants it could fall under the EIG.
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Q
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Would it be possible for Glenn
Close to have a parking bay if the flowerbeds where cut
back?
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A
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NF said that moving paths,
footpaths and verges could be costly.
KA said that they were good ideas but that finding the money from
CYC budgets and the Improvement Grant could be difficult. It was
suggested that this should be discussed by Fulford Residents’ Association.
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Q
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Concerns were raised about the
parking arrangements at the doctor’s surgery as people were
parking in Fulford Park on the junction
with Main Street and there was a danger of accidents. The doctor’s surgery car park was too
small. It was noted that there was an
opening into Connaught Court from Fulford Park which people had started to use to
park their cars.
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A
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KA said there was a proposal to
paint yellow lines at the end of Fulford Park to deal with this issue but that there
was the possibility that it would push the parking further down
Fulford Park. This issue would be
further discussed with local residents in Fulford Park.
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Q
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Concerns were raised about the
parking bays on Main Street that were being used over long periods
by cars with “for sale” in the window. These bays were originally experimental;
perhaps a time limit could be put on these bays. This suggestion raised concerns that
the cars would then park in the church car park.
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A
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KA said that this had been
reported to Trading Standards last week.
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Q
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Resident raised concerns about
the 7.5 tonne limit down Heslington
Lane being regularly exceeded and why was this restriction not
enforced. Lorries were going down
Heslington Lane to the Industrial
Estate and thump over the speed bumps on the road. Concern was expressed that this caused damage to
the foundations of resident’s houses due to the
vibration.
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A
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KA said that the rubberised
style of bumps down Heslington Lane
were no longer being used across the city following a review and
that there was a rolling programme to replace these with different
rubber bumps. The new style of bump was designed to have less
impact on smaller cars while still slowing traffic.
NF said that if this was an
ongoing problem (about HGVs) then the Parish Council and the
Fulford Residents Association (FRA)
should take the issue up with the police.
KA said that officers had been
out to visit some of the houses on Heslington Lane in the past and agreed that we
should be careful to use speed bumps that had a suitable level of
impact on cars.
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Q
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The University of York is
constantly developing and was there not an understanding that
construction workers at the University were not allowed to use
Heslington Lane?
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A
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The meeting heard that the
University of needed to make sure that their suppliers, staff, and
students were aware of the on-campus sparking arrangements and
local weight limits. KA said that often there was some capacity on
Heslington East but it seemed that
there needed to be more spaces on Heslington West.
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Q
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Could the signage be looked at
as of the many HGV’s travelling along Main Street, very few
of them service Fulford they are mostly
going into the City Centre.
Could be directed off the A64 down the
Hull Road.
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A
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This issue has been raised a
number of times, NF said that you could encourage people to take
other routes but ultimately it is a public highway and people
cannot be forced to do so.
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KA thanked NF for attending the
meeting.
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