PARKING CLAMPDOWN IS VERGING ON THE RIDICULOUS!

THE perverse parking ultimatum given to residents in large parts of our suburbs represents a real Hobson’s choice. They are effectively being encouraged to block their own streets with their cars.

Any public spirited individual who has the temerity to pull onto the verge or pavement to allow free flow of traffic will in future be fined if they live in Humberston, New Waltham, Healing and Barnoldby.

Civil enforcement officers will be descending on a quiet, suburban street near you to hand out such penalties.

I’m not sure what most concerns the district and parish councillors and a minority of residents with an axe to grind who are behind this. Is it aesthetics, in that they want the suburbs to look nice? Is it cost of restoring verges? Or is it the safety of pedestrians?

Clearly, if a vehicle blocks a pavement or parks in such a way that it represents a danger to them then action should be taken under existing laws.

But such culprits are few and far between.

The majority who pull partly off the road do so to prevent their streets from being blocked and they do leave enough space for pedestrians. They don’t do it because they are selfish or bloody minded, they do it for the sake of their communities. If they did not pursue this sensible course of action there would be all sorts of access problems.

Bin lorries, for example, would not be able to reach their homes. There may be some special cases where safety is compromised by verge parking, but there are many drives, avenues and closes in residential areas where full on street parking would lead to chaos. We’ve already seen the issues in at least one Cleethorpes street where bins have been left un-emptied because the crews can’t get down. And what happens if there is a house fire? Will the property be left to burn down because a fire engine can get no further than the end of the street?

A home may be lost, but at least the verges will remain pristine. Now it may be possible for some to pull onto their drives, but in multicar households, which is the majority, and those with visitors, this may be difficult.

And is it not equally dangerous to have cars continually pulling into and out of drives, across pavements and into roads, particularly when the kids are walking or biking to school?

In some streets where this scheme has already been brought in, I can think of at least one in Waltham, we’ve seen increased pollution from traffic fumes as drivers wait in line to overtake parked cars.

Maybe the carbon footprint doesn’t matter in these cases? And we don’t need a crystal ball to predict what will be the next step when the entirely predictable problems of access become apparent. Yellow lines.

Residents will be stopped from parking outside their own homes. Believe me, it will happen.

The busybodies behind such schemes, however well intentioned, should be careful what they wish for. There are more pressing traffic safety problems in our localities. I can name three which seem to be ignored.

Lazy parents parking outside schools at leaving times, idiots parking in the controlled zones around pedestrian crossings and the seemingly universal flouting of yellow line restrictions in our shopping streets.