Parking mad!
Pegasus road resident Andrew Longmore is fed up with having to park his car on a busy
thoroughfare because there are no spaces available outside his house. Ever
since the council blocked off their large grass verge with bollards, Mr Longmore
and his neighbours have been forced to park on the street—usually on Blackbird
Leys road near the junction with Pegasus road.
This area is poorly lit and isn’t overlooked by any of the
residents’ houses. In addition, the parking constricts one of the busiest
junctions on the estate. A year ago Mr Longmore’s car was vandalised while
parked there and recently it was dented all down one side by a hit and run
driver. A few months ago another car parked on this part of Blackbird Leys Road
was broken into in broad daylight.
‘My main concern is for the safety of my two young children,’
said Andrew Longmore, ‘as I always have to get one of them out of the car onto
the road with vehicles constantly passing close by.’
IWCA councillor Stuart Craft brought up the parking problems
experienced by Mr Longmore and his neighbours at the last area committee
meeting. As a result, council officers have been charged with investigating the
situation.
The affected residents have put forward a number of proposals
for providing parking bays on the grass in front of their houses while retaining
the greater part of this area as a green space. The IWCA will be pressing for a
solution to be implemented along these lines, ensuring that it is acceptable to
all those concerned.
The IWCA ‘Your Point of View’ survey—carried out door-to-door
across the estate for two years running—identified parking problems as a
significant issue for many people living on Blackbird Leys. As the Leys
Independent pointed out at the time of the May local election, ‘the root of
these problems is the lack of consultation with residents.’
To find solutions to the parking problems on the estate the
IWCA will be revisiting areas covered in the survey and speaking to people who
raised this issue. Once the problems have been identified we will canvass the
other residents who may also be affected and/or hold a small meeting to decide
how to move forward.
If you have a parking problem in your area but haven’t yet
spoken to us about it please contact Stuart Craft (see below).
Leys Independent, issue 16, December 2002
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