Residents’ Parking scheme reactions.

Richard Wyatt

Another opportunity for people in and around Oldfield Park and Westmoreland in Bath to comment on proposals for a proposed residents parking scheme in the area.

More than 700 people shared their views on a proposed scheme in an initial consultation late last year.

Based on feedback from people living in and outside the zone some changes will be made to the proposals and these will go back out for the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) stage of consultation later this summer.

Proposals for a Residents’ Parking Zone (RPZ) in large parts of both wards aim to tackle commuter parking and reduce vehicle intrusion into the largely residential neighbourhoods, improve air quality and the environment for the local community.

The proposed changes to on-street parking were requested by ward councillors ahead of the council’s decision to work with communities to introduce Liveable Neighbourhoods which include seven other proposed RPZs which will shortly go out for consultation.  

A report on the consultation showed:

of those respondents within the proposed zone boundary (549):

  • 44% support, 18% partially support, 38% object, to the proposed RPZ

of those respondents outside the proposed zone boundary (140):

  • 8% support, 14% partially support, 78% object to the proposed RPZ

Main reasons for supporting or partially supporting from people within the zone:

  • Difficult to park near my house (raised by 42% of respondents)
  • Commuters shouldn’t be parking here (37%)
  • The RPZ will reduce traffic (30%)

Main reasons for only partially supporting from people within the zone:

  • Students shouldn’t get permits / similar comments (raised by 32% of respondents)
  • Not agreeing with RPZ operational times – generally longer hours wanted (16%)
  • Concern about negative impact on Moorland Road shops (14%)

Main reasons for objections from people within the proposed zone:

  • Unhappy at cost of permits (raised by 30% of respondents)
  • There’s not a current parking problem (22%)
  • Have more cars than can get permits for (9%)

Main reasons for objections from people outside of the proposed zone:

  • Will move the problem outside the RPZ (raised by 50% of respondents)
  • Unhappy at cost of permits (18%)
  • There’s not a current parking problem (16%)

Councillor Manda Rigby, cabinet member for Transport said: “If this zone results in displacement of parking to neighbouring areas, we will work with the communities impacted on RPZs for them, were they to request them. It’s unclear if this will be the case, as those using the Oldfield Park area to park before walking into town may find it too far to park and stride from further out. Those using the area to avoid paying for permits in their own RPZ may well choose to purchase them now the alternative parking is being prioritised for residents.

“This is about balancing the needs of everyone using our roads while making them safer and healthier spaces. We listened to the feedback from the initial consultation and made some amendments to the proposals. There will now be a further opportunity for people to have their say in the next stage of the consultation later this summer.”

Details of the proposed scheme and the consultation report are on the council website.        

Published by Richard Wyatt

Freelance Journalist, broadcaster, columnist and local historian. Director of Bath Newseum. Married and lives in Bath. Interested in local history, architecture and visual display in museums and urban spaces.

1 Comment

  1. Reblogged this on Walk Ride Bath and commented:
    Resident Parking Zones are good thing which have been shown time and again to reduce traffic ingress into cities. I suspect eventually most of Bath will be covered in Resident Parking Zones and the park and ride sites will then finally be fully utilised. Reducing traffic on our roads is as much about providing good walking/wheeling, cycling, and public transport (buses and eScooters) as it is about removing “free” parking from residential areas.

    One interesting point is that many residents outside of the areas being proposed don’t want them because they currently don’t “suffer” from commuters parking in their area.

    As somebody that lived in Bear Flat and saw the introduction of a RPZ it was quite interesting to see “spare” cars from households that were already living in an RPZ (Holloway) vanish from the area. I suspect the Bear Flat RPZ suddenly dumped a load of Bear Flat and Holloway “spare” cars into Oldfield Park.

    So the question is, given eScooters are likely to be made legal later this year, does a foldable eScooter that you can happily store in the boot of your “spare” car, make any area of Bath without a RPZ fair game for “free” parking?

    One key thing to take away from this. The less “free” parking in the city, the more park and rides are used, the less traffic on our congested roads.

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