My ward colleague Cllr Helen Redfern wrote in January about the City Corporation's plan to install parking meters at Riddlesdown car park and charge users for parking their cars there.
I, along with Helen and Riddlesdown Residents Association, have expressed our concern about this plan to the City Corporation because of the impact on roads such as Honister Heights that are adjacent to the downs and easy to park on. By charging Riddlesdown users to park we are concerned that drivers will simply decide to save themselves the cost and park on neighbouring residential roads causing parking problems for residents, especially when the school is open. Already we have reports of Honister and Eskdale being far more heavily parked then normal.
Despite our concerns the City Corporation decided to press ahead regardless. Now though, and despite the fact that the pay-and-display machines went live on 25th January, it turns out that they need planning permission!
The City have had to belatedly apply for that planning permission (21/00274/FUL) and I would encourage any residents interested in this application to view and make comments. As a ward Councillor for Riddlesdown and a local resident myself I have already referred the application to the Planning Committee for decision as the scheme will, I believe, be detrimental to the local area, to residential parking and to traffic flows.
