The decision to proceed with planning at the County Highways department has long since been made and things are happening. County Cllr Mark Heenan has said he will support the residents in approving the scheme when the final plans are drawn up. So, I have every reason to believe it will go ahead.Karter said:
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Castletown Parking
- Thread starter cat_woman
- Start date
The parking situation is going to get worse with the multi-storey carpark at the station and it is bad at the moment. Can County Cllr Mark Heenan spell out the definite timetable for the residents parking on this forum so that we can feel assured. Like Karter I think there is stalling going on and we need to know the facts.
shoes
Well-Known Forumite
This was opened on 8 Jan 2008. We're fast approaching two years since this was first mentioned on the forum.
The council are useless. Absolutely useless. Slow, lazy, innaccurate, inconsiderate jobsworths who arn't worth the paper their grossly overvalued paycheque has written on it. I wouldn't be so sure about this getting resolved any time soon. Planning alone can take years because they apparently can only process one application a week between the lot of them, although that is observing (to the letter) the 'rules' about breaks from computer screens, writing, standing up, sitting down, looking at someonething a certain distance away and also the breaks between breaks. Before then buggering off at 1700 on the dot.
Now if you'd have asked for a speed camera, some speed bumps and a pay-and-display machine on Castle Street...
The council are useless. Absolutely useless. Slow, lazy, innaccurate, inconsiderate jobsworths who arn't worth the paper their grossly overvalued paycheque has written on it. I wouldn't be so sure about this getting resolved any time soon. Planning alone can take years because they apparently can only process one application a week between the lot of them, although that is observing (to the letter) the 'rules' about breaks from computer screens, writing, standing up, sitting down, looking at someonething a certain distance away and also the breaks between breaks. Before then buggering off at 1700 on the dot.
Now if you'd have asked for a speed camera, some speed bumps and a pay-and-display machine on Castle Street...
My Name is URL
Well-Known Forumite
At a (completely unrelated) meeting last week I thought I heard this scheme mentioned in the context of "it won't happen until at least next summer".
I may have misheard or this may be something different but thats what it sounded like to me.
I may have misheard or this may be something different but thats what it sounded like to me.
henryscat
Well-Known Forumite
It can't be that complicated - there are zillions of residents permits schemes about the country.
I agree the station car park closure certainly won't help (think I said that pages back!).
IMO it wouldn't hurt to create as much publicity as possible; harangue politicians as much as possible; and if necessary take direct action (not suggesting anything illegal). On the latter the residents association stickers sound a good idea, then flyer cars who are obviously commuters, then anyone who leaves a car at home in the day could strategically park it to leave less space for commuters. It would also be ashame if commuters got back to find they were unable to get out of their space...
I agree the station car park closure certainly won't help (think I said that pages back!).
IMO it wouldn't hurt to create as much publicity as possible; harangue politicians as much as possible; and if necessary take direct action (not suggesting anything illegal). On the latter the residents association stickers sound a good idea, then flyer cars who are obviously commuters, then anyone who leaves a car at home in the day could strategically park it to leave less space for commuters. It would also be ashame if commuters got back to find they were unable to get out of their space...
tek-monkey
wanna see my snake?
I'd assume one permit per car?
henryscat
Well-Known Forumite
Dunno how the system would work in Stafford, but elsewhere the starting point is usually one permit per household, plus an allowance for visitor permits. If there's loads of spaces (which there ain't in Castletown) some schemes go to more than one permit per household.
tek-monkey
wanna see my snake?
Fairest way surely, not even sure there is enough room for one space per house!
MarkHeenan
Well-Known Forumite
Hi all, thought you might like a couple of responses from me:
The second consultation is a wider one for anyone (literally anyone) with an interest to respond to. The residents of Castletown will be made aware when it happens, when an advert will be placed in local newspapers briefly describing the scheme and inviting responses. This part of the process is legally mandatory. There then follows a month where the Council (again, by law) has to simply sit and wait for responses to come in, before all responses have to be given some consideration, even if they are ultimately not considered worth acting upon.
Each house in Castletown will be guaranteed at least one permit. Thereafter as I understand it the permits will be distributed on a first-come-first-served basis until all the available permits are taken up. At the moment the anticipated demand just slightly outstrips the number of spaces available, but the officers are trying to squeeze a few more spaces in to address this.
As for a definite timetable, I'm afraid I can't give you one. Sorry, but whatever timetable I set out would turn out wrong. The scheme is on a relatively large scale, involves a large amount of technical detail, and necessitates many bits of signage and line painting, each of which requires a legally enforceable traffic order. The officers tell me that having it in by the summer should be possible, including some hiccups, and that's as specific as I can be.
And as Sofa says, the residents are very much behind it so getting my approval won't be a problem.
The second consultation is a wider one for anyone (literally anyone) with an interest to respond to. The residents of Castletown will be made aware when it happens, when an advert will be placed in local newspapers briefly describing the scheme and inviting responses. This part of the process is legally mandatory. There then follows a month where the Council (again, by law) has to simply sit and wait for responses to come in, before all responses have to be given some consideration, even if they are ultimately not considered worth acting upon.
Each house in Castletown will be guaranteed at least one permit. Thereafter as I understand it the permits will be distributed on a first-come-first-served basis until all the available permits are taken up. At the moment the anticipated demand just slightly outstrips the number of spaces available, but the officers are trying to squeeze a few more spaces in to address this.
As for a definite timetable, I'm afraid I can't give you one. Sorry, but whatever timetable I set out would turn out wrong. The scheme is on a relatively large scale, involves a large amount of technical detail, and necessitates many bits of signage and line painting, each of which requires a legally enforceable traffic order. The officers tell me that having it in by the summer should be possible, including some hiccups, and that's as specific as I can be.
And as Sofa says, the residents are very much behind it so getting my approval won't be a problem.
db
#chaplife
yeah, a few people seem to be jabbing at mark heenan in this thread, but it's worth bearing in mind that he's new to the helm of this project.. maureen compton had a couple of years to get this off the ground and clearly struggled, so personally i'm impressed at the level of feedback mark is offering so farshoes said:
shoes
Well-Known Forumite
Quite agree. Wasn't a dig at any one particular person, of course this will have to go through several departments and levels of authority. Mark Heenan seems to be much more involved with the forum, certainly and that cannot be a bad thing.dirtybobby said:yeah, a few people seem to be jabbing at mark heenan in this thread, but it's worth bearing in mind that he's new to the helm of this project.. maureen compton had a couple of years to get this off the ground and clearly struggled, so personally i'm impressed at the level of feedback mark is offering so farshoes said:
Andreas Rex
Banned for smiling
Ok he's pretty new to it, but that doesn't excuse not responding to an email I sent to him on the 22nd July regarding the matter!dirtybobby said:
Maureen did a lot to help get this scheme off the ground...and at least she replied to each of my emails promptly and with good information.dirtybobby said:maureen compton had a couple of years to get this off the ground and clearly struggled, so personally i'm impressed at the level of feedback mark is offering so far
db
#chaplife
true.. i wasn't saying mark was a saint, i just get the impression that one or two people signed up with the express intent of giving him grief, so i thought i'd stick up for the old boy! lolAndreas Rex said:Ok he's pretty new to it, but that doesn't excuse not responding to an email I sent to him on the 22nd July regarding the matter!dirtybobby said:
Maureen did a lot to help get this scheme off the ground...and at least she replied to each of my emails promptly and with good information.dirtybobby said:maureen compton had a couple of years to get this off the ground and clearly struggled, so personally i'm impressed at the level of feedback mark is offering so far
I hope this isn't cutting your nose off to spite your face. One pass per household prevents me from being able to buy a house really as I need to get a lodger - where will they/I park? Oh dear, and I love Castletown. I would also worry about selling the house on again. Both sides of this debate have pro's and con's obviously, but on balance I think I'd be more inclined to buy without the scheme, it's more flexible.
db
#chaplife
surely there is only enough space outside each house for one medium sized car? that being that case, how is it fair to assign more than one space per household?Karter said:
i get what you're saying, and if i lived on castletown i'd be in your boat since both me & the missus have cars, but from a logistical point of view i don't see how you can fairly grant a household space for multiple cars, if that means depriving other houses of their space..
Absolutely see your point that there is only space for one car (presuming every house has a car of course) but how are people who do have more than one car going to manage? (Or, like me, people hoping to get a lodger to help financially). Obviously it's all down to personal circumstance but I'd rather have to park a couple of blocks away without a scheme and be able to have the option to have more than one car per household than for the second person have to find somewhere much further away than a couple of blocks with the scheme. I don't think the second person (lodger), if they had a car, would even contemplate moving in without a permit, so it would probably be me parking half a mile away somewhere outside Castletown - annoying someone else instead!dirtybobby said:
My Name is URL
Well-Known Forumite
Think you've hit the nail on the head there... find a lodger without a car... close proximity to town and the train station (and busses from the station all over) mean that it should be quite possible to do that.Karter said: