Issue - meetings

This report reviews the responses received from residents in response to the Statutory Consultation for a proposed amendment to the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO).  The proposed amendment to TRO was to introduce of parking restrictions on Baysdale Avenue, Cavendish Grove and Tranby Avenue.

The proposal was brought forward following a petition submitted to the Council by residents of the area, who had raised concerns about obstructive parking that had been occurring, especially during the University term time.  The Petition requested the Council consider the introduction of a timed parking restriction.

Resolved:   To proceed with Option 1 – Implement as advertised (reducing proposed no waiting hours from 10:00am-3:00pm to 11:00am-2:00pm).

Reason:      These restrictions will help remove the long-term parking that has been occurring, which originally initiated the submission of the petition to request the proposed restriction.

The installation of the proposed restriction will allow the passage of the vehicles along the street and remove the parking on the bend that residents raised concerns about the potential danger during the consultation period.

The Highway Regulation Manager presented the report, outlining the Review of the Statutory Consultation, what it did and how it responded to a petition submitted by residents due to university parking impacting their ability to park on their own streets.

He advised that residents and ward councillors had made some requests which were not possible to fulfil; specifically that the council were unable to request the university open up their car parks to residents, and it was not possible to enact temporary restrictions akin to those used in Poppleton during the Great Yorkshire Show (putting out traffic cones to reserve spaces at times of need). He explained that these temporary restrictions were applicable where there were highway works or issues of public safety, and the issue in question concerned parking as opposed to either of these, meaning more permanent restrictions were appropriate.

He explained that many residents had supported the proposal for restrictions Mon-Fri because students living on campus were parking on residential streets for weeks on end and weekday restrictions would act as a deterrent.

The Director of City Development reiterated that this item directly responded to the residents’ petition, and therefore this response did not constitute the council acting as highway authority but acting on behalf of its residents through consultation. While the council had no way to control the university, it was working closely with the university around future planning for traffic management and parking in the area.

The Executive Member thanked officers for their work. She read out in full the 21 March 2024 petition presented by Cllr Warters and signed by 164 residents, noting that officers had drawn up a scheme which reflected all the asks in this petition. She advised that officers had received 3 representations and 1 letter in support of the proposed scheme, and 5 representations and 2 letters against, one of which was from the member who had started the petition.

She explained that this decision had been delayed until the university came to a decision on the future of the Badger Hill ResPark agreement; it had now agreed to continue this scheme and the petition proposal had therefore been brought forward since the impact of parking would be likely to continue on Tranby Avenue and the surrounding area.

Having carefully considered all representations, the Executive Member supported the points raised by officers regarding temporary restrictions being unfeasible in this situation, explaining that these were intended for temporary/one off events, were costly and disruptive to maintain, and may not actually even be legal to enforce in this scenario due to the long-term nature of the parking issues.

She also addressed objections calling for the university to do more in terms of parking provision for residents, stating that the university was not able to provide further campus parking due to planning constraints and the council were working with the university to reduce demand for parking (making public and sustainable transport an increasingly viable alternative).

On the subject of public transport she addressed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44