Frustration at hold-ups to parking remedy
Riverside CC calls for council action
Stirling Council have been urged to speed up proposals for new parking and traffic arrangements in Riverside.
Residents have long complained about the volume of traffic, particularly the streets surrounding Riverside Primary School.
Forth Street is a magnet for commuter and city centre parking, adding to traffic generated by school staff and visitors, nearby businesses and other organisations with premises in the area.
The twice-daily school run further increases traffic numbers, often leading to congestion around entrances to the primary plus lengthy tailbacks along Lovers Walk as well as fears for the safety of children walking and cycling to and from school.
Inconsiderate driver behaviour - including waiting in vehicles with engines idling and parking on pavements and double yellow lines has also angered many residents.
One said: “The main issue is too many cars on the road resulting in carbon dioxide emissions, air and noise pollution, congestion, increased risk of accidents, competition for parking spaces and poor driver behaviour. There is an urgent need to reduce the volume of traffic.”
Riverside Community Council said parking and traffic issues were among the subjects that prompt most complaints to them.
Stirling Council began to address some of the long-standing traffic bugbears in Riverside two years ago.
They proposed an extension to the city’s Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) to some streets in the area including parts of Forth Street, Edward Road, James Street, Roseberry Terrace and Ronald Place.
And in a bid to tackle the parking “free for all” around Riverside Primary, a parking “exclusion zone” to operate at certain times of the day, was suggested.
However, in response to a Freedom of Information request submitted to the council in December, the council confirmed a CPZ - within which drivers have to pay for on-street parking - would not be introduced in Riverside.
Officials said following a consultation in March 2019, the option of extending the CPZ to Riverside was rejected by the community.
The FOI response adds: “Through consultation it was noted there was a desire for the community to work ... with council officers and seek a parking solution right for the area.”
Officials say they met with representatives of the then recently elected Riverside Community Council in March 2019 and there was desire by both bodies to “develop a parking intervention which best fits the needs of the community and is deliverable for the council”.
Parking surveys were undertaken in September 2019 and February last year to “establish a baseline” and find out whether the student flats development at Riverside Quay had worsened parking and traffic matters.
Officials say moves to tackle the parking problems in Riverside were paused because of the pandemic but it was hoped to progress the work early this year and conduct a fresh consultation allowing anyone who wants to take part to do so in a safe manner.
The FOI also asked for the findings of a survey to assess levels of traffic pollution around Riverside Primary.
Officials said testing devices were placed in Forest Road and Argyll Avenue between May and November 2019.
While unable to supply data recorded during the survey, the council said there were ‘no exceedances’ of nitrogen dioxide levels or fine particulate matter found.
Riverside Community Council is currently carrying out an active travel survey and members hope the findings will be taken into account when fresh proposals to tackle the parking and traffic issues are framed.
While members acknowledge the brake on council work caused by the pandemic, they are frustrated by the lack of action after more than two years of deliberation.
Chairperson Joan Murphy said: “We are concerned, not only about the lack of consultation and transparency, but the lack of vision by the council in taking a holistic view of the traffic issues in Riverside, and the origins of them. It would be great if we could work closely together to develop joint solutions.”