One greengrocer says he may even have to close when his customers desert him for the supermarkets. Concerned residents in the area say nearly half of them will be deprived of parking near their homes when the new system comes in on August 6. Send us your views on this story by clicking here Around 80 homeowners in Cherry Street, Guy Street, Broad Street and Guy's Cliffe Terrace recently attended a meeting at Coten End school to discuss what they see as a serious and imminent problem.
They predict only around 150 spaces will be left to cater for the approximately 250 households in the area - many of which have more than one car. One homeowner described the council's plans as being like "trying to fit a square peg into a round hole" and said local authorities, which will assume responsibility for the enforcement of parking charges in just a few weeks, had failed to fully take residents' parking into account. Warwick Society chairman James McKay was asked to chair the meeting.
He said: "Those who attended are very concerned that they won't be able to park near their homes. Proper enforcement means there will be a very severe shortage of spaces - there will be a particular problem in evenings when people come home from work and at weekends. "Parking has always been a problem in this area and this is why a lot of residents park on double yellow lines at the moment - there is simply nowhere else for them to go.
"Those who attended the meeting were very positive and sensible and came up with several suggestions on how the problem might be addressed, for example, a one-way system along Guy's Cliffe Terrace to create more space for parking. We just hope the authorities take the ideas seriously." Business owners in the area are worried increased parking enforcement will put their customers off and damage their livelihoods.
John Collins has owned the Simmonds greengrocers on Coten End for 19 years and fears the new system could spell the end of his business. He said: "It will affect me and others along here really badly and basically cause mayhem. My customers park on double yellow lines and pop in to buy bits and pieces - I have always relied on passing trade.
"But if the parking attendants are going to be really zealous and give tickets to everyone, it's going to stop my customers coming and they will be forced to go to the supermarket instead. Small businesses like myself need all the help we can get, the supermarkets are already big enough. "I've been here for 19 years and I never thought parking would cause such a problem for me.
I'm seriously thinking that I may have to close. It's very sad and other people are in the same boat." Residents plan more meetings and presented a petition of 101 signatures at a meeting of the Warwick Area Committee on Tuesday.
They hope the strength of feeling in the area will persuade Warwickshire County Council to review its plans and consider their proposals which they say would help residents who "have nowhere else to go." County council project manager Graham Greenwood said: "The primary function of these streets is to provide access for emergency services and refuse vehicles and the fact is they were constructed before cars were invented. "But we will endeavor to increase the parking available in this area wherever we can and have agreed to look at what is possible to safely do.
" Visit www.warwickshire.gov.
uk/decrim for more information. One greengrocer says he may even have to close when his customers desert him for the supermarkets.
News RSS