Post by Bugs on May 23, 2009 8:04:44 GMT
From the Advertiser:
BERWICK has been told that it will have to put up with parking problems for a few more years until recommendations from a traffic management plan can be implemented.
Dick Fraser, the county council's highways policy and strategy manager, told Berwick Town Council's first ever annual town meeting in the Guildhall on Monday, that improvements to Castlegate car park would be a priority, but that there will be no mor
ADVERTISEMENT e traffic wardens until 2010, and funding will have to be sought for other projects to go ahead.
Mr Fraser said: "Parking in Berwick has been an issue for a long time, but we are looking to give a holistic approach to the whole problem of parking in and around Berwick following this comprehensive study by Buchanans."
The study by Colin Buchanan consultants was commissioned by Northumberland Strategic Partnership, with the final report and recommendations published in April.
Main recommendations included working with English Heritage to secure an extension to Castlegate car park and improve signage directing tourists to use this car park, improve pedestrian signage to encourage people to explore the ramparts and other streets in the town other than just Marygate, and design a street guide for street furniture and replace worn or broken items.
Mr Fraser outlined the findings of the report, emphasising that peak short stay parking and peak on street parking were currently running at nearly the recommended maximum capacity and that 60 per cent of parking within the walls is long stay.
He also highlighted the issue of congestion at peak times at roundabouts in the town centre, the lack of facilities for cyclists in Berwick, and the current situation of a "stop and shop" parking culture in Marygate.
Shona Alexander, former head of regeneration at Berwick Borough Council, added that the "stop and shop" culture identified in the report resulted in Marygate being clogged up with parked cars as people nipped in and out of shops, making it off-putting for tourists visiting the town.
She said: "There is an awful lot of rogue parking when people just drop cars and nip into a shop and out again, and that's why Marygate looks a bit of a mess. It is not a sustainable situation and there is a chance for accidents and it puts visitors off."
She said that creating more short stay parking within the walls would encourage shoppers to stay longer in the town and spend more, rather than parking inappropriately and only visiting one shop, adding that parking on Marygate would be better suited to providing spaces for blue badge holders.
However, town councillor and chairman of Berwick Chamber of Trade, John Robertson said that having no short-stay parking on Marygate would "discriminate against those who only have time to 'stop and shop'."
On extending the Castlegate car park, Mr Fraser said that Northumberland County Council were in talks with English Heritage about the matter.
He said: "We need to secure the Castlegate overflow, which is ongoing with English Heritage. We need to get it done and get on with it now. It is something we need to push, and quite hard, with English Heritage. Castlegate is the priority for us and we hope to get progress this year."
He added: "Things have got a little lost in the mist during the council reorganisation and we need to get this report signed off by the county council and need to progress that quickly and then look at speaking to our partners to get funding to do things. We do need to take this forward."
Do Shaw, chair of Berwick Civic Society, during the question and answer session following Mr Fraser's report, said: "The management of traffic by traffic wardens in non-existent and the parking attendant comes once in a blue moon, if that."
Mr Fraser responded that the county council are in the process of requesting control of traffic wardens and making it civil enforcement, which would mean the council rather than police would employ wardens and enforce parking restrictions.
However, Mr Fraser added: "This is a very, very long process and everything has to be absolutely right - every line and every sign - or we'd end up having appeals. The best estimate is mid-summer to autumn next year.
"We will push to try and deliver by then, and it will give us more control ourselves, and I'd expect a greater number of wardens to be employed after that
BERWICK has been told that it will have to put up with parking problems for a few more years until recommendations from a traffic management plan can be implemented.
Dick Fraser, the county council's highways policy and strategy manager, told Berwick Town Council's first ever annual town meeting in the Guildhall on Monday, that improvements to Castlegate car park would be a priority, but that there will be no mor
ADVERTISEMENT e traffic wardens until 2010, and funding will have to be sought for other projects to go ahead.
Mr Fraser said: "Parking in Berwick has been an issue for a long time, but we are looking to give a holistic approach to the whole problem of parking in and around Berwick following this comprehensive study by Buchanans."
The study by Colin Buchanan consultants was commissioned by Northumberland Strategic Partnership, with the final report and recommendations published in April.
Main recommendations included working with English Heritage to secure an extension to Castlegate car park and improve signage directing tourists to use this car park, improve pedestrian signage to encourage people to explore the ramparts and other streets in the town other than just Marygate, and design a street guide for street furniture and replace worn or broken items.
Mr Fraser outlined the findings of the report, emphasising that peak short stay parking and peak on street parking were currently running at nearly the recommended maximum capacity and that 60 per cent of parking within the walls is long stay.
He also highlighted the issue of congestion at peak times at roundabouts in the town centre, the lack of facilities for cyclists in Berwick, and the current situation of a "stop and shop" parking culture in Marygate.
Shona Alexander, former head of regeneration at Berwick Borough Council, added that the "stop and shop" culture identified in the report resulted in Marygate being clogged up with parked cars as people nipped in and out of shops, making it off-putting for tourists visiting the town.
She said: "There is an awful lot of rogue parking when people just drop cars and nip into a shop and out again, and that's why Marygate looks a bit of a mess. It is not a sustainable situation and there is a chance for accidents and it puts visitors off."
She said that creating more short stay parking within the walls would encourage shoppers to stay longer in the town and spend more, rather than parking inappropriately and only visiting one shop, adding that parking on Marygate would be better suited to providing spaces for blue badge holders.
However, town councillor and chairman of Berwick Chamber of Trade, John Robertson said that having no short-stay parking on Marygate would "discriminate against those who only have time to 'stop and shop'."
On extending the Castlegate car park, Mr Fraser said that Northumberland County Council were in talks with English Heritage about the matter.
He said: "We need to secure the Castlegate overflow, which is ongoing with English Heritage. We need to get it done and get on with it now. It is something we need to push, and quite hard, with English Heritage. Castlegate is the priority for us and we hope to get progress this year."
He added: "Things have got a little lost in the mist during the council reorganisation and we need to get this report signed off by the county council and need to progress that quickly and then look at speaking to our partners to get funding to do things. We do need to take this forward."
Do Shaw, chair of Berwick Civic Society, during the question and answer session following Mr Fraser's report, said: "The management of traffic by traffic wardens in non-existent and the parking attendant comes once in a blue moon, if that."
Mr Fraser responded that the county council are in the process of requesting control of traffic wardens and making it civil enforcement, which would mean the council rather than police would employ wardens and enforce parking restrictions.
However, Mr Fraser added: "This is a very, very long process and everything has to be absolutely right - every line and every sign - or we'd end up having appeals. The best estimate is mid-summer to autumn next year.
"We will push to try and deliver by then, and it will give us more control ourselves, and I'd expect a greater number of wardens to be employed after that
