A parking permit sandwich - MB Orchard Road dispersal, an issue that needs Portsmouth City Council's urgent attention

Bramble Rd, Ventnor Rd, Talbot Rd - Shanklin Rd is unnamed

Portsmouth City Council has finally acknowledged that the introduction of the Orchard Road parking scheme has caused a dispersion of cars into the Bramble Road area and they seem poised to do something about it. 

Since the MB parking scheme was introduced in November last year residents of Bramble Road, Shanklin Road, Talbot Road and Ventnor Road have been left frustrated at the council’s actions. 

The council's controversial parking permit scheme allows you to park on the road outside your house, if you can find a space. The permits are free for the first car, £53.50 annually for the second and £107.50 annually for the third. The chances of you persuading the council that you need more than three? Slim-to-none. 

This particular area of Portsmouth is very heavily student orientated with many houses being converted into four, five or six bedroom student digs. You would have to be a very naïve and middle-aged person to think that all students are poor and don’t have cars. It’s actually quite the opposite. 

Students love to have a car because it means they can drive home whenever they like. They often don’t register their car to their student house, leaving it registered at their parents, which is why the figures are so skewed. Regardless of that, how would they figure out how to split the cost of permits? Who would get the free one and who would have to pay?

Parking quite clearly an issue

They are often left confused as to how to get a permit. To apply they need to take a copy of their official documents to the Portsmouth offices. This poses many problems. Firstly, they would need to change the documents to their transient address. Secondly, they are often new to the city and new to the adult world of bills and the council and usually have no idea where to start. 

A good article about the parking permit scheme and how it alienates students was featured in Portsmouth University's student magazine Pugwash. You can view a copy here http://issuu.com/pugwashnews/docs/issue_61. 

The Portsmouth City Council website clearly states that they ‘have introduced a number of successful parking permit schemes’ but omits that they have equally introduced some highly unpopular and unsuccessful ones too. 

Personally, as a resident of Bramble Road, I have been angered by the way the council refuses to listen to its residents and ploughs on with their plans, regardless of any comments or problems caused. 

The Lib Dems promised that this issue would be sorted if they were voted back in. That promise was music to residents' ears and we all swiftly hot-stepped down to the polling station and voted them back in.That was six weeks ago and today a notice is placed in the Monday edition of The News that a new scheme is being implemented in the Lawrence Road area. 

What does this mean for Bramble Road? As soon as this new zone is in force then we will be in a parking permit sandwich. Facing an invasion from all sides. 

A rare space on the right hand side of Bramble Rd

A quick check of the Portsmouth City Council’s website reveals that a meeting is scheduled to take place tomorrow at 10am regarding Bramble Road. If they agree to a parking permit scheme in our area we would still be facing a 36-week wait for it to come into action. 

The Lawrence Road scheme is much further down the line than our proposed scheme so whatever happens tomorrow morning we will still be facing a period of time suffering the knock-on effects of the two zones. 

I wait with anticipation to see the outcome of this meeting. As I am sure that the many other residents similarly affected by this scheme will do too.

That includes the paramedic that comes home in the early hours of the morning after a long shift to regularly find no parking space, the young mother with a new baby that walks 20 minutes at night by herself when she can't get a space, the elderly lady who lives by herself whose daughter cannot visit her everyday as she cannot park, the taxi driver who regularly gets blocked in his garage and cannot go to work to support his family, the mother that carries her disabled daughter through the streets, the couple that fear a fire engine could not get to them if needed, the man whose wife is terminally ill and gets blocked in by cars parking that should have permits and be parking in their own zone. All these stories are true and makes me returning from a late night studying in Solent University's library pale in comparison.

If you feel aggrieved by any of Portsmouth City Council’s resident permit schemes please write to Nikki Musson Portsmouth City Council Civic Offices Portsmouth PO1 2NE or call her on 023 9283 4461.

For details of the proposed meeting visit http://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/yourcouncil/24962.html.