Topic ID 3484
The Hertford East residents parking scheme has been planned for months now. A few weeks ago I received a letter explaining about it, plus an application form for the parking permint. I sent it off to the Council 2 weeks ago but I've started to get a bit antsy as my cheque hasn't been cashed, nor have I received the permit - the residents only parking 'goes live' on Monday 31st March. Just called them to ask when I could expect to receive it and was told that the permits would be hand-delivered on Friday. Kind of an expensive way of doing it, I wonder why they just couldn't have been more organised and sent them through the post?
Reply ID 50896
Maybe so that they don't get 'lost in the post' and used by someone else?
Reply ID 50945
Also, if there are large number of passes to post, it might be cheaper to send one or two members of council staff down to hand deliver them than post them in the mail.
Reply ID 50946
quote:... especially if staff overseeing the works are visiting the area anyway. After all, it's only a short walk from Wallfields.
Originally posted by Kate
Also, if there are large number of passes to post, it might be cheaper to send one or two members of council staff down to hand deliver them than post them in the mail.
Reply ID 50948
I take it that like most other parking permit schemes you get a book of "Visitor parking permits" for friends and tradesmen. By the way do you have to pay for these or are they given out free.
Reply ID 50951
quote:Yes, visitor parking permits are allowed, and yes you have to pay for them. 20x 1hr tickets are £2 10x 4hr tickets are £4 1 days tickets are £1 each and 1 week tickets are £3 each
Originally posted by hertford born and bred
I take it that like most other parking permit schemes you get a book of "Visitor parking permits" for friends and tradesmen. By the way do you have to pay for these or are they given out free.
Reply ID 50954
All was well in the end - my parking permit arrived in the post today, hurrah!
Reply ID 50972
I called them yesterday (Friday) to ask when I could expect my permit, as the scheme goes live on Monday but they said that there was a week's grace....
Reply ID 50976
Let's hope the traffic wardens have been told about that weeks grace - I've got a picture of them in my head all lined up on Monday morning like vultures [;)]
Reply ID 51065
Well have to say there seems a lot more places to park now during the day. A happy East side resident here :-)
Reply ID 51067
quote:Anybody know where all these cars are now parking?
Originally posted by Stan
Well have to say there seems a lot more places to park now during the day. A happy East side resident here :-)
Reply ID 51069
quote:No but it is not the Focus/ Matalan car park thats for sure, I now realise why they put the new signs up!
Originally posted by spitfirequote:Anybody know where all these cars are now parking?
Originally posted by Stan
Well have to say there seems a lot more places to park now during the day. A happy East side resident here :-)
Reply ID 51229
No it is Talbot street, Rayham street and currie street! its so busy down this end now. I live with my mum and we are a one car household and even before this scheme it was often hard to park here now its worse. i looked outside monday morning (after the time most residents have left for work) and the streets were all packed! not gonna be long before we are forced to pay for the right to park. Hertford east need to sort out some parking and soon!
Reply ID 51230
quote:next 3 streets to get a residents parking scheme i think. There is no space around Hertford East for a car park
Originally posted by Gemma
No it is Talkbot street, Rayham street and currie street! its so busy down this end now. I live with my mum and we are a one car household and even before this scheme it was often hard to park here now its worse. i looked outside monday morning (after the time most residents have left for work) and the streets were all packed! not gonna be long before we are forced to pay for the right to park. Hertford east need to sort out some parking and soon!
Reply ID 51232
When I last took a train from Hertford East and stood on the platform, there seemed to be space that could be used for a car park. Even if there was a car park - commuters don't want to pay another huge sum of money after paying for a Season Ticket for the train. My opinion is that the train companies don't want to encourage more people to use their trains and EHDC just want to make money - and move the problem elsewhere!
Reply ID 51338
The whole thing is a complete cock-up and I find it astonishing that the residents of that area allowed themselves to fall for it, AND in effect paying higher council tax than the rest of us for the privilege, good one! The streets are still packed with cars in the evenings and weekends, when residents would want to park there. During the hours of operation 8am-6pm Monday to Friday, the majority of people are at work. If they don't work, what are they doing running a car? ;-) Another example of the incompetent and ineffective way in which our councils (and government) handle problems; don't stop people doing it, but make them pay for it (which leaves the problem there) or push it out somewhere else. Still, while there are mugs happy to fall for it, it will go on, and on, and on..
Reply ID 51363
quote:I agree. It is an absolute cockup. I find it impossible to understand how a council with a track record for making terrible decisions have managed to make a decision that has deprived me of the opportunity to express my impotent rage and frustration on this forum. On the plus side, I can now park outside my house whenever I like. Before the permit scheme came in I often had to park upto 15 miles away from my house in a field. And all for just 50p (ish) a week. I don't think that makes me a mug or the scheme a cock-up. So thank you The Council. Given Pez's suggestion that the unemployed should be banned from car ownership it's just as well he isn't one making the decisions. Or did I misunderstand?
Originally posted by Pez
The whole thing is a complete cock-up and I find it astonishing that the residents of that area allowed themselves to fall for it, AND in effect paying higher council tax than the rest of us for the privilege, good one! The streets are still packed with cars in the evenings and weekends, when residents would want to park there. During the hours of operation 8am-6pm Monday to Friday, the majority of people are at work. If they don't work, what are they doing running a car? ;-) Another example of the incompetent and ineffective way in which our councils (and government) handle problems; don't stop people doing it, but make them pay for it (which leaves the problem there) or push it out somewhere else. Still, while there are mugs happy to fall for it, it will go on, and on, and on..
Reply ID 51366
- It hasn't got rid of the Hertford East parking problem, it's just pushed it outwards, solving nothing; - I bet you can't park outside your house whenever you like; - The council (by EU directive, I think) restricts the number of parking areas for flats and workplaces in the area, on the basis that being near the station would mean that the users don't need a car (ha!). They then completely go against that with the resident's parking scheme; - (There was a smiley after my comment about the people not at work owning a car..); - By far and away the majority of the Kingsmead area did not want resident's parking. The council then reduced the scope of it so that the majority of the objectors would be out of the way, getting a 'Yes' vote from the NIMBYs and moving it through like a Mexican Wave to the next set, and so on, until (we) all fall neatly right into their plans and they get by stealth what they wanted in the first place.; - You probably could have parked outside or near your house during evenings and weekends before this, completely free of charge. - Your family and friends now have to pay to visit you; You have been mugged.
Reply ID 51368
You all have most definately been mugged! We all voted no when asked for parking permints but now the parking situation has been moved towards us, i bet sadly some people will end up saying yes. paying to park on the street is just stupid
Reply ID 51390
I know 3 families in the area who seem overjoyed at the the new parking availability now that the permits have been introduced and think the money is well spent. They all have young families and i think its mostly down to the fact that the mothers who are often ferrying children from schools to after school clubs/dentist etc have the ability to park near the house during weekdays without the strain/worry of shepherding children and all the "kit" 4 roads away. It was never going to please everyone as there are different demands from different households, from single occupancy commuters thru to large families and OAP's...
Reply ID 51401
Yes of course they'll be overjoyed. However, buying or renting in this area is a choice. No-one forced them to do so. Victorian houses - well, the sort that are the norm in the Kingsmead area anyway - typically don't have driveways, garages or parking spaces and presumably we all knew this when we made the decision to live here. If you also go and choose one that's pretty much next door to something like a railway station, then.. well, figure it out.. In Railway Place, Currie Street, Talbot Street and to some degree Raynham Street we've been living with the same parking problems for just as long, getting worse (definitely so now the NIMBYs have pushed their parking problems on to us).. Rarely do I find my space outside my house if I go away and come back and many days I increasingly have to park in an adajcent street or out on Ware Road. But we just accept it as part of living around here and get on with it. And I do wonder what would happen if this sort of scope narrowing were applied to other planning applications, such that only the people who wanted it were consulted, instead of everyone that was affected by it - Good Heavens - can you imagine? No, it was never going to please everyone - because not everyone's opinion counted.
Reply ID 51406
It is a choice (to both move there or leave there) - 2 of the 3 familys i mention have been there almost 10 yrs, when commuting (local and London) pressures were not the problem that it is today and the town was a lot less busy. I left the area 12 months ago.
Reply ID 51418
Pez would seem to be the Mohamed Al Fayed of on-street parking, with the council playing the role of the Duke of Edinburgh, though this time in league with the EU rather than MI6. The last time I witnessed so much sound and fury over local government administration was the poll tax riots in the 90s. I just hope we don't reach that point in Kingsmead, the petrol bombs would play havoc with house prices. God willing there's still time to persuade Pez to embrace the democratic route and stand as the 'Keep Brussels out of East Hertford, Burn your Permit' party in the next local elections.
Reply ID 51646
I agree with Pez about pushing the problem further away. I have noticed quite an increase in cars parked in Park Road, although I am not sure this is solely due to the new parking scheme, I think the new restrictions in the Focus/Matalan car park have also had something to do with it. It is certainly causing us problems, inconsiderate parking has blocked the road for anything bigger than a small car, never mind an ambulance or fire engine.
Reply ID 51649
Have to agree about Park Road. Half of it now has restricted parking which has pushed the cars (from Focus or Hertford East) all up to the top of the road. This forces you to go round the blind bend on the wrong side of the road and then crawl through the 6 foot gap they have left you to negotiate past the cars parked opposite each other. When the yellow lines were proposed, I objected on the basis that this would probably happen and I was right [:(!] As for you residents of Hertford East, the worst will be yet to come! Just wait till you have run out of visitors passes and the council refuses to sell you any more till next April. I had the misfortune to be expecting a baby whilst living in a CPZ and used up nearly a whole year's supply of short term passes on midwife and health visitor visits.
Reply ID 51654
This also begs the question of where are people such as couriers/Tesco/Ocado and Indian/chinese/pizza delivery drivers and the like supposed to park legally without blocking the road? Has any provision been made for this?