Tickets may be illegal
Some parking tickets in Stratford may have been handed out illegally, after a review found some parking rules had no legal standing.
On Tuesday, the Stratford District Council voted to create a new ‘‘parking control schedule’’ after a review found ‘‘significant discrepancies’’ between the council’s previous parking bylaw and where the actual parking spaces around the town were placed.
There was little discussion around the report during the policy and services meeting as councillors had already discussed the details of the new bylaw during a workshop on February 21, from which the public and media were excluded.
The report presented to council, which was written by roading assets manager Stephen Bowden, warned that if the new schedule wasn’t created, the council wouldn’t be able to enforce parking around the town.
‘‘Some of the parking prohibitions within Stratford currently have no legal standing as there is no evidence in the form of Council resolutions which formally endorsed the parking provisions,’’ the report said.
‘‘This report formally requests and recommends Council to endorse all existing on-street parking provisions.’’
The report pointed out that the bylaw specifically referred to ‘‘no stopping’’ on a broken double yellow line.
‘‘In order for the no stopping to be enforceable, all parking prohibitions require a Council resolution,’’ it said.
‘‘Unfortunately, no such council resolutions appear to be held within the council’s document management system.’’
The report gave councillors the option to accept the recommendations or do nothing.
‘‘Do nothing - the existing arrangement remains in which case the current parking prohibitions throughout Stratford township have no legal standing and cannot be enforced. This is not recommended,’’ Bowden said.
In a statement, director - community services Kate Whareaitu said it was important to differentiate between parking prohibitions and parking restrictions, as the report only referred to parking prohibitions.
‘‘The vast majority of parking tickets issued relate to overstays in time restricted parking spaces which is not affected by this report,’’ she said.
‘‘Any challenges to issued parking tickets will be treated on a case by case basis.’’
Whareaitu said they were unable to provide details on how many tickets had been issued while the parking restrictions were unenforceable before this story went to print.
The report also included detailed maps that outlined the parking in Stratford that came under the bylaw and the position of the various types of parks around the town, such as bus stops, five minute parks, 30 minute parks and 90 minute parks.
The schedules will now go out for public consultation between March 31 and May 19, which mayor Neil Volzke said gave the public an important chance to have their say. A cyclist suffered serious head injuries after a collision on New Plymouth’s Coastal Walkway on Tuesday.
Police were alerted to the headon crash, which happened about 800 metres back towards the Te Rewa Rewa bridge from Hickford Park in Bell Block, about 2pm by St John ambulance staff.
A Taranaki man, aged in his 50s, was treated as the scene by St John paramedics before being transported to Taranaki Base Hospital in a serious condition.
It is believed the other cyclist involved in the collision was an American athlete in town for this weekend’s ITU Sprint Triathlon on Sunday.
Senior Constable Vaughan Smith said the cyclists were heading in opposite directions when the crash happened.
‘‘One thought that the other was going to get out of the way by going in the opposite direction but they both moved to the same side of the path and collided,’’ Smith said.
The injured man was bleeding from the ears while the triathlete only received a bump to the nose and scratch to the forehead, he said.
‘‘Although he can talk it’s still very serious.’’
The victim, who was cycling with his wife and rode along the walkway almost daily, was wheeled from the scene to a waiting ambulance on a stretcher.
He was assessed by a doctor at Hickford Park before being taken to hospital.
Smith said the walkway was a sensational asset for the community but people needed to remember to take care and be considerate of others when using it.
‘‘Although it is not a road that vehicles travel on, you still have to stick to the road rules and keep to the left when you are using it.’’
There has been a long history of friction between pedestrians and cyclists using the Coastal Walkway with both claiming the other group was at fault.
David Langford, New Plymouth District Council acting chief operations officer, said he was very sorry to hear about the crash and hoped both riders recovered quickly.
Langford reminded cyclists the walkway was for leisure and not riding at speed.
‘‘The Coastal Walkway is designed for recreational use and it’s important that all users are aware of walkers, runners, cyclists, skateboarders and others around them - ‘Share with Care’, keep your speed down, keep left and be careful,’’ he said.
‘‘There’s a great cycle park at Hickford Park that is perfect for speed cycling.’’
ITU competition manager Terry Sheldrake said he had been advised of the collision by the council.
‘‘I hope that no-one was too hurt, I believe a gentleman was taken to hospital,’’ he said.
Sheldrake said athletes taking part in the weekend’s race were still arriving and he would use social media to advise them about the correct use of the walkway.
‘‘If they are riding on there, it’s not a track that they should be belting along it’s a recreational thing, they could meet pushchairs or anything.’’