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Parking row rages on amid fears over cost
Protesters L-R Jane Keenan (Station Rd), Dave Carter (George St), Sue Carter (George St), Charlie Hussey (Ellesmere Rd), Paul Phillips (George St).
ABOUT 100 protesters revolted against a plan to draw up town-wide parking permits during a meeting of the scheme’s leaders.
So many of them turned up that Berkhamsted Town Council’s transport and environment committee on Monday had to move into a larger room.
At one stage, Nigel Granger, landlord of The Rising Sun in George Street, Berkhamsted, stormed out after being reprimanded for complaining too much.
He had previously said to the politicians: “This scheme is absolute and utter madness. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”
Read the full story in this week’s Berkhamsted & Tring Gazette, out tomorrow.
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Weather for Hemel Hempstead
Sunday 27 May 2012
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Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 25 C
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Wind direction: East
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Comments
There are 4 comments to this article
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fredkarno
Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 07:20 AMGenius - the 'meetings' last year were at an exhibition to explain possible solutions. They had officers at it answering questions as well as Borough Councillors. Every question I asked either had the response of 'I don't know' or even 'It depends'. Nigel was asked to leave because he kept interrupting a Council meeting and being asked not to by the Chairman. Maybe you do not realise it was a formal Town Council meeting - not a public meeting. The difference being that it is for Councillors and the public are allowed (item 5 on the agenda) participate within the rules the 'rules'. In this case, the 5 minutes allowed was extended to some 21 minutes as 7 residents expressed a wish to speak. Personally, I am not a lover of Cllr Cowie, however, the opportunity was provided and Nigel ignored requests to allow other members of the public to express a view. Remember the item being discussed was not displaced parking (his concern), but residents parking zones. There is a very subtle difference which the public often forget. You are right, I really do know nothing about local government and the curious way it works.
Genius
Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 12:01 AMI was at the meeting too and Nigel Granger was kicked out for complaining too much and too often. Shows what you know, fredkarno - there was a public meeting last summer, and it was widely reported. At least 100 residents went to it, asked questions, had them answered by councillors and filled out questionnaires giving their thoughts on the scheme. I’m guessing you didn’t, seeing as how you seem to know nothing about it. Too much moaning and not enough actual knowledge, I'm afraid.
alibongo
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 05:39 PMI too was at the meeting, and this article showed a very poor understanding of the issues, and reasons behind the objections. As was clearly said by many at the meeting, the residents parking zones will simply not solve the problem. Perhaps some residents who voted in favour don't understand, that this scheme creates *less* parking spaces, pushes the probem into outlying streete, costs them more money, including paying for people to visit them, and the only people who win is the parking enforcement company - ask residents in Hemel who now have to live with just such a scheme. And where exactly are people commuting to work in Berkhamsted supposed to park? Will local businesses just vote with their feet?
fredkarno
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 04:51 PMThis really is reporting at it's best, I just hope the gazette does better. It's not a town wide parking permit scheme. The landlord of the Rising Sun was reminded that it's a council committee meeting and rules have to be obeyed - such as not trying to interrupt the Chairman or taking advantage of the opportunity to speak in an acceptable manor. There were a lot of George Street residents which is not part of the proposal on the agenda. Having said that, a complete lack of imagination by the Council so that residents understand both the advantages and disadvantages of the Parking zone idea together with a simplistic 'consultation' led to Monday nights fiasco. I am surprised that either the Town Council or an organisation such as the Citizens Association have not called a public meeting for residents to air their concerns. This would have allowed questions to be asked and a better understanding of the 5 options the working party put forward. It was not surprising that the Committee just went for Option 1 (go forward to a formal consultation) rather than take the town with it. It surprised me that few residents fully understood the implications apart from having to pay to park outside their front door. Displacement of vehicles really has not been addressed by the Town Council, but I think they believe they will just vanish into the tarmac.No consideration has been given to the size of any parking bays compared with the road widths in the affected roads and the modern vehicle size. Over the years, so many opportunities have been missed to address this long standing problem. I once even suggested the school (you know the one) might consider relocating only to be told it brings £1 million into the town each year and yet, I understand they do not allow pupils to use school land to park their vehicles on. They continue the Cllr. Sharp attitude of 15 years ago that school children don't drive. I could go on but you could pop over to berko.org.uk and follow links to norman, then 2012 and go to february (or not, of course!) for more.
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