Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Residents fed up with parking issue
RESIDENTS of a Dundee st reet a re ca l l i ng for a proposed’ parking scheme to be fast-tracked so they can be visited by family and carers with ease.
Locals on Corso Street say they are fed up with students and “park and striders” using the road as a convenient dumping ground for their cars so they can visit the university and city centre without paying for parking.
Betty Connor, 85, said her guests were unable to get parked.
“Most of us around here are disabled and rely on getting taxis which need to have to stop in the middle of the road to let us in,” she said.
“We have chiropractors and carers coming to see us who can’t get parked. I have to rely on my son to get to hospital for appointments and he can’t get parked either.
“It’s been happening for about four years but it has definitely gotten worse recently.
“On one occasion I was getting a taxi as I was going shopping and as I was waiting someone pulled up and parked their car.
“I asked them not to park there and they said I should walk to the end of the street – but I walk with a stick. If someone is going to the university they should park and pay.”
West End Liberal Democrat councillor Fraser Macpherson has been pressuring Dundee City Council to crack on with bringing a residents’ parking permit scheme in the area.
The scheme was voted for last year but since then little progress has been made – although transport bosses have attended community meetings to get their views.
Mr MacPherson said: “While a consultation with the community is in progress, there is a significant amount of staffing resource required to deliver on the residents’ parking report passed a year and a half ago.
“I think residents have been very patient and there now needs to be real progress.”
Council transport chief John Berry last week spoke to the City Centre and Harbour Community Council about the permit scheme plans.
While he did not outline when the scheme would come into effect he acknowledged its necessity.
He said: “Over many, many years people have been complaining about this and the council has never really offered a palatable solution.
“I’m going around groups to get a feel for whether there is a desire for this – there are drawbacks but this is what is being asked of me.”