Agenda item

Question from Jodi Weston

Could the timeframes please be clarified on how these planning meetings are scheduled and agendas confirmed?

I attended the previous meeting in July 2018 when we were made aware that the proposal to implement a verge protection order in the close was being postponed for discussion at a later meeting.  However since July there has been no further contact until a week before the rescheduled meeting is due to take place when residents are advised that further questions can be submitted and/or it is possible to attend.  It seems a very short period of time to ask the residents to consider the new information received and make the necessary plans to be able to attend the meeting to hear the discussions.  I am a working parent of a young daughter with a husband who works in London and subsequently who is rarely home by 1930.  As such childcare needs to be organised and this takes planning.  It would also be fairer, in my view to allow more time for consideration of the new information received rather than have to rush through this process.  Is it not possible to give residents more time?  Are these meetings scheduled at such short notice to render this impracticable? 

Answer

The legal requirement is to provide 5 working days’ notice for the agenda and reports to be published and made available on the Committee pages of the Council’s website.

Letters were sent to all affected parties notifying them of the date of the committee meeting within these timescales.

This particular consultation has been in progress for over a year and all residents directly affected have been consulted on proposals during this period.

Residents during this process, requested that they should be allowed to continue parking on the four formal crossovers, which are classed as public highway. The Council has listened to these requests and together with County have agreed to treat Parkway Close as a special case and allow parking to continue in these areas as long as a valid permit/voucher is displayed during the days and times which the scheme operates. Therefore, the proposals have been amended what was formally advertised, this has made the scheme less restrictive.

Question from Daniel Barcroft

Can you prove that the four remaining crossovers you are proposing to exclude from the A03 parking zone in Parkway Close were “unsanctioned additions” made at a later stage, with evidence such as an original plan or other documentation?  If you cannot prove it then you cannot use that unfounded assertion as rationale for excluding them.

Answer

Any modifications sanctioned by the Council would have followed a process that first of all obtained the necessary approval from the County Council who are responsible for their maintenance; followed in turn by the necessary planning permission. Vehicle crossovers would then have been constructed to the correct standard.

Hertfordshire County Council has confirmed the areas that you are referring to are pedestrian footways and have never been adapted by them to accommodate vehicles.

Question from David Steed

What you term “vehicle crossovers” for permit parking cannot apply to the drives of no 1 and no 8; there is nothing to “crossover “to- just the garage door-nothing beyond.   Your concern to be “fair” to residents victimises the two residents (one here for 60 years, living alone and blind in one eye) with nowhere to park whatsoever. This not “being fair.

Will the panel please acknowledge belatedly its embarrassing mistake in including the drives to no 1 and no 8 Honeycroft and remove these from the plan?

Answer

The crossovers are still classed as public highway, and as such should not be classed as additional parking for residents. However, as in the case of Parkway Close the Borough Council and County Council have recognised these are a special case and included them within the relevant resident parking permit scheme for the area.

Question From Martin Souter

Do the council consider the outcome of this evening to be a forgone conclusion, to the extent that they have asked Hertfordshire County Council to already send out threatening letters to residents telling them to desist from parking on some of the crossovers and revert them to verge, and is this indicative of a well-run and democratic process?

Answer

The letters from the County Council which have been delivered to residents in Parkway Close are referring to pedestrian footways and not crossovers.

Question from Susan Busse

In view of the fact that there are  already more cars belonging to the residents of Parkway Close than there are spaces for, how can this committee possibly continue to ignore the fact that every single one of the households in Parkway Close and Parkway numbers 70 -84 is against the amalgamation of the parking in Parkway and Parkway Close.

The bombshell letter from the county council yesterday demanding the removal of a further four spaces immediately surely makes this even less sensible.

Answer

It is not the council’s responsibility to provide parking for every vehicle within the Borough.

However, parking management is the Councils responsibility and by amalgamating the two resident parking permit schemes this will provide residents access to more spaces than currently available in A03.

Question from Jean Cook

My garage does not accommodate my small Citroen C3 car and allow for me a 78 year old widow to park and exit my car.  I am therefore required to park on the run in for the garage.  I am not able to part on the road as the area outside my house is opposite Honeycroft and double-lined.  At 78 I require help from my three daughters and a gardener who comes once a week. I am a pensioner and cannot afford to purchase four separate resident permits for the proposed parking area further along the road which is currently filled up with commuters from dawn to dusk.  I am very concerned that this will have a massive impact on people visiting me and providing me with additional help as an elderly lady I require.

Can the group please identify how I am to afford the cost of concreting my driveway or the resident passes this will ultimately require if you enforce the discontinued use of the cross-over driveway, as parking outside my house is not an option available to me.

Answer

There will be resident parking permit bays marked on the ground on the same side of the road as Mrs Cook’s property. These will be only be available for residents and visitors to use during the days and times the resident scheme is in operation. As Mrs Cook is 78, she would qualify for vouchers at a discounted rate. These vouchers can be used more than once a day, if residents have visitors at different times.