Parish Councillors are becoming increasingly concerned about the ongoing problem of illegal parking in the evenings and want the law to be enforced outside the village bars and restaurants.
Cllr Mary Maczkowiak raised the issue of parking outside The Botanist at this week's council meeting.
She told fellow councillors "It is now so ridiculous. Thursday, Friday Saturday we have the bus stop now permanently blocked.
"The zig zags are permanently blocked every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and now we've got them parking on the pelican crossing.
"The police come out they move them on. I've seen the police move them on, they go round the corner the police go and they just park again.
"Several of them are taxis who know they should not be parking their illegally so the only thing to do is to take their licence plate and report them."
Cllr Mike Williamson commented "The liability lies with the police to enforce the law. It is illegal to park in a zig zag area of a pedestrian crossing.
"They should just give them tickets. How many tickets does a taxi driver need to get before they lose their license."
Cllr Mary Maczkowiak responded "I'm just wondering if there is anything we can do. I know we have no power to enforce anything but I think it might be an idea to put police bollards out there, to ask Jim (PCSO Newns) to enforce it at the three restaurants who are the main problem, that is Gusto, the Bar & Grill and now The Botanist.
"Jim has actually been there one night for 4 hours moving people on but he has got other things to do. He can't be stood there Thursday, Friday and Saturday."
Cllr Mary Maczkowiak added "What I am concerned about again is buses not being able to stop at the bus stop and elderly people getting off them and not being able to get onto the pavement."
Cllr Mike Williamson commented "My concerns lie with the other end of the village where the parking has extended all the way up Congleton Road and almost reached the bottom of Beechfield Road now.
"Again even though it is illegal to park there, Jim (PCSO Newns) puts these little notes there but again they do not ticket them."
Parish councillors agreed that some enforcement is needed and will request a meeting to discuss the illegal parking with Sgt Andy Miller.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
Anyone found parking illegally, either on double yellow lines or zig-zag lines or whatever else is illegal should have tickets put on their cars and be clamped ............. Simples !
How stupid that any Police Officer or Police Community Support Officer should go around "Moving them on" ?
I presume the PCSO Officers have no authority to ticket cars for illegal acts, and this just shows what a hair-brained scheme it was for the last Government to create PCSO's in the first place ............ If they cannot carry out proper policing, why have them ?
We need Police Officers who can uphold the law in every respect, not PCSO's on the cheap !
Is it not part of the planning process for the council comittee to take the possible parking problems in to account when making their decisions on giving these bars and restaurants permission? Bad planning, bad decisions!
Yeah, why enforce the law which is in place to protect the environment from those too selfish to think of others and regulate themselves? Perhaps we should just have a free-for-all?
As for 'the high street', it's changing. Life's changing. Always has. Out of town shopping for daily essentials, and on-line shopping for other goods is the way now. It works! It's what people want! If they didn't, it wouldn't happen (it's customer-driven).
The high street will continue to provide services you can't get on line or want to get out of town - specialist shops, restaurants, cafes, coffee shops.
The selfish element who think they can leave their vehicles any old place, compromising pedestrian and motoring safety and the enjoyment of the environment for others, should have the law enforced against them. It's what it's for!
I would have throught that there is sufficient parking space around Alderley village - just need to persuade people to walk a little further and perhaps that should start with ticketing the cars that park on double yellows / zig zags. The situation between Gusto and Bar & Grill is becoming dangerous - the main A34 carriageway is reduced to a single lane by thoughtless parking and there have been a number of very close scrapes (literally!)
Please tell us your suggestions Glenn....would be interesting to read.
We are not talking about day time shoppers. We are talking about illegal parking outside bars and restaurants during the evening. The sort of personality that parks their car in a way that causes danger to others and is so thoughtless that they park on zig zags and pavements needs dealing with where it will hurt, their wallet. In fact just forget clamping them.......tow the car away.
Granted it would involve traffic management on a return loop and incur costs but if a solution is wanted it's the only one that would offer all answers to issues raised above for limited compromise.
Oh, and a 7.5t weight limit to force large vehicles down the bypass