Kingsdown Conservation Group

KCG members may recall that we have not taken a formal view for or against the RPZ, because there was no clear consensus among our membership when the Council last published detailed proposals three years ago.

However, it is now very much a hot topic again, and we are grateful to Roger Mortimer of the Redland and Cotham Amenities Society, who has kindly given us permission to make available his recent short paper. In it he sets out some of the key questions that need to be answered before residents can take an informed view about whether the proposed RPZ will be of benefit. Download the paper as a Word document here.

Thanks to Kingsdown resident Ian Abrahams for passing on the following information received from sally.lloyd@bristol.gov.uk:

On 15th November 2007 Bristol City Council’s Cabinet agreed a report on the introduction of Residents Parking Zones around the City Centre to minimise the impact of commuter parking in residential areas.

You can download the full report (PDF 32pp 4.3MB) from the council website.

Over the next few weeks we will be setting up a web page under the heading of Bristol Residents Parking Project. The web page will explain the intended basic operational principles and will have a section of frequently asked questions, to help explain to people how such a scheme will impact on them. There will be an opportunity for individuals to comment and an e-mail address to send any additional queries to. We will publicise the setting up of the site and currently expect the web page to be operational towards the end of March 2008. You may however wish to keep an eye on progress by checking on the Bristol City Council Website.

The Citizens Panel were asked for their views on the operational principles of Residents Parking in February 2008, and their responses will be analysed and reported on in March. The next stage will be to embark on a large-scale consultation exercise covering the Inner and Outer Rings that are highlighted in the Cabinet Report.

All residents, businesses and local organisations in the Inner and Outer Rings will be contacted, and asked whether they would like to have their street considered for Residents Parking. The results of this exercise will be used to establish where the initial “Early Adopter” Residents’ Parking Zones will be promoted.

Subject to general support within these initial zones, it is anticipated that detailed design and full implementation will start in the latter part of 2008 in the hope of having the first few schemes completed and operational by late Spring 2009. When these schemes are complete, the experience gained will be used to inform and facilitate the promotion of additional schemes, subject of course to the support of residents.

If and when the Inner Ring becomes fully established we will turn our attention to the Outer Ring. Subject to the continuing support of residents we currently hope to have both the Inner and Outer Rings fully established by the end of 2012.

We trust that this information is of assistance to you, and look forward to any additional comments that you would like to make.

Terry Bullock
Traffic Manager

Kingsdown morning commuter stand-off

Originally uploaded by Kingsdown.

This was taken a few years ago now, but here it is just as a reminder of what we still have to put up with, and to encourage you to click through to see some of the other 600 pictures on our ‘flickr’ website

It’s not often we can say that, but credit where it’s due - new and much clearer roadsigns have appeared on Marlborough Hill. Cul-de-sac signs at the top, and No Entry/Left-turn only half-way down, and better marking on the road surface itself, should put an end to lawbreaking rat-runners driving down the hill on the offchance and then not quite noticing the old No Entry signs.

Thanks to the traffic engineers for responding to the concerns expressed by residents.

Dr Mark Wright, one of our ward Councillors, tells us that Council officers are currently reviewing residents’ parking schemes in other towns and cities so that they can make recommendations on what form a Bristol scheme needs to take.

They will also be looking at how to prioritise areas of the city for the implementation of residents’ parking, and there will then be city-wide consultation followed by implementation.

So, the issue hasn’t been forgotten, but doesn’t sound as if it’ll be sorted any time soon.

A group of Kingsdown residents met Councillor Mark Wright recently to discuss the perennial (and worsening) problem of parking. We understand that the City Council intends to engage a consultant to advise on a residents’ parking scheme, but we do not yet know if this has been formally decided, not what the consultant’s brief might be. However, we want to make sure that any proposals take full account of local needs and that there is detailed discussion with residents. If you would like to help this group, or just to give them your views, please contact us using the link on the right and we will pass your message on.

Three years ago, the Council was trying to promote the idea of controlled parking zones for Kingsdown, Clifton and other central parts of the city. There was a lot of opposition from traders and some residents, and only in Kingsdown was there a reasonable amount of support as well. So Council Officers spent a long time devising plans and working with residents to fine-tune the scheme and avoid some of its inevitable disadvantages. For example, they agreed to exclude the Back of Kingsdown Parade, as, otherwise, they would legally have to double-yellow-line nearly all of it because of its limited width, which would stop the largely successful ‘give and take’ parking system there.

There were repeated rumours that the official notices were to be issued to start a period of formal public consultation, but in the event nothing happened. Now the scheme has been kicked into the long grass, and it looks as if the main reason is that the powers that be want to keep Kingsdown as a handy free car-park for Broadmead.

On 13^th October 2005, the City Council Cabinet approved the recommendations in a report called ‘An Amended Parking Strategy for Bristol and Associated Matters’. Paragraph 17 refers to Kingsdown:

Much work was carried out in 2001 to identify such an extension to the north of the existing zone in Kingsdown for example, and a residents? parking scheme acceptable to the majority of residents was approved in principle for statutory consultation purposes. It has not been possible to implement this scheme to date, and care must now be taken to avoid undue parking pressures while the Broadmead expansion project is underway. It is recommended that subject to due process, the Kingsdown CPZ and residents parking proposals be reappraised in the light of current circumstances.

What this means in plain English is very hard to tell. The officers in Parking Services don’t know because they are in the middle of yet another Council reorganisation, so the best they cacould suggest is to ring back early in 2006 and they might know then.

TK/13 December 2005