Your Say Counts
From RA County Councillor Peter Hickman
Many of you have taken the opportunity to express views on parking in Thames Ditton following my article in the Autumn edition of this magazine. Over 80 residents attended the meeting on 16 November where issues were "brainstormed." In addition there have been at least 50 responses by telephone or via either the website form or the forum. Views have been many and varied and the role of the RA under Ben Ellis is to distil these into acceptable solutions that can be put to Surrey County Council. The RA concluded, following the meeting, that there were two areas needing different solutions to fit differing problems: the High Street, and the Station Area.
High Street
There are basically two issues in the area of the High Street.
It is absolutely vital for the health of the village to have an active shopping area along the High Street and we must encourage the use of our shops. Without them we would become just another dead suburb with no soul. We must provide spaces for visiting customers of shops and businesses. Equally, space should be provided for those who live there.
Currently many vehicles are parked all day in the High Street. Some park inconsiderately causing obstruction, particularly around Ashley Road, Church Lane and Harvest Lane. There have been several occasions when service vehicles have not been able to access these roads. Occasionally a long line of cars parked along Watts Road can cause obstruction. All day parkers should use their own off street parking facilities or if they have none, the Ashley Road Car Park has space for nearly 70 cars.
Station area
Here we have problems with commuters and students who park all day as the roads around Thames Ditton Station have no parking controls. There is frequent obstructive parking at road junctions, outside the schools, alongside residents' driveways and congestive parking in cul-de-sacs.
Action to date
We have had an on site meeting with SCC to discuss the situation and possible solutions, identify the roads that need to be considered and outline ideas that you have all put forward. With experience from elsewhere, Surrey will be visiting the area to collect more facts by surveying parking in trouble spots. Various options have been discussed: residents parking permits, curfew parking, no parking areas etc. Some of the solutions could be controversial and not suit everyone. Surrey will delineate on a map the areas that may be subject to parking controls, and issue questionnaires to gauge public feelings. These questionnaires should give an accurate picture of your views and are a tried and tested way of achieving consensus. This we hope will be carried out in March/April. Following this initial phase a detailed plan will be drawn up identifying the controls and every property affected will be asked whether the detailed proposal is acceptable. For the proposal to go forward a good response rate and a good majority in favour is absolutely necessary.
Meanwhile please send any views or opinions you wish to be taken into account via the widely visited RA website at www.residents-association.com or phone Ben Ellis (8398 2114) or myself (8399 0931).
Peter Hickman