Plan will turn streets ‘into huge hospital car park’
RESIDENTS fear a possible parking permit scheme will transform their area into a huge overspill car park for Stepping Hill hospital – and they will be forced to pay for it.
Tensions are running high on the streets around the hospital, with staff often at odds with members of the community over inconsiderate parking. Council chiefs say that a parking permit scheme for residents and non-residents - including hospital staff - is the long-term answer.
But residents say they will end up out of pocket, while the hospital will financially benefit as workers return to the site.
RESIDENTS fear a possible parking permit scheme will transform their area into a huge overspill car park for a nearby hospital – and they will be forced to pay for it.
Tensions are running high on the streets around Stockport’s Stepping Hill Hospital, with staff often at odds with members of the community over inconsiderate parking.
Stepping Hill Neighbourhood Parking Action Group (SNAG) say relations have been under increasing strain since the hospital put up on-site parking charges for staff by 40 per cent in 2016 leading many to use free street parking instead.
Members of SNAG who say around 950 homes are affected - have been in talks with council and hospital bosses to find a solution.
Council chiefs say that a parking permit scheme for residents and non-residents - including hospital staff - is the long-term answer. But residents say they will end up out of pocket, while the hospital will financially benefit as workers return to the site.
Among those who say their day to day lives are being affected by onstreet parking are Chris and Steve Hughes, who have lived in Norwood Road for nearly 50 years.
“The council really want a quiet life, all they are concerned about is the hospital and hospital staff,” says Chris, 70, who works as a doctor’s receptionist.
“It is causing a lot of stress because you know when you go out you won’t have a spot when you come back. Cars are not parked just for an hour - it will be a full shift - eight hours - or longer.
“Apparently some are coming at night, parking right near someone’s house if they can get a space. Then we have the noise of them closing doors and getting stuff out of boots which wakes people up.
“It’s just making our lives so stressful, not just ours, but everyone else’s. If there was an emergency you couldn’t get a fire engine down here or an ambulance down here it’s just unbelievable. The backs of our gardens are blocked off as well, it’s dangerous.
“Steve suffers with a really bad back and could do with being able to use his car and knowing he can come back and park outside our house.
“But unfortunately you can go out in the car and find you can’t park and then have the stress of trying to find a space.”
Chris says the attitude from hospital workers when asked to move their cars has not been what she expected.
“They are rude and nasty if you say anything to them - I have been threatened, I have been abused by people for saying we live here and my husband needs to park when he comes back. We get a lot of abuse.”
Deliveries are another bugbear for the couple.
“One resident had to put lots of cones out just so a delivery van could park there. It affects all of your life and what’s so annoying is the council just dismisses us all the time,” Chris adds.
Elsewhere, in nearby Bonis Crescent, retired firefighter Michael Hurst resorted to using a cone to keep a space for visiting family members - but soon found a warning from the council attached.
“I thought it was a bit ridiculous, what harm is a cone doing?” said Michael.
However, unlike SNAG, he’s not as opposed to a permit scheme.
“It depends how much I would have to pay,” he says. “What I don’t understand with zonal parking is if someone for instance from Boothby Street were to get a residents’ permit, they could still come and park here, so it doesn’t solve the situation. But you are never going to stop it completely.”
And with a new emergency care campus planned for the hospital, Michael does not see an end in sight to the area’s parking woes.
But he does have sympathy for hospital staff. “They shouldn’t have to pay to park but that’s how it is,” he says.
Coun Sheila Bailey, cabinet member for Sustainable Stockport, said: “We want to manage the number of non-residents parking in the streets around the hospital but we must allow some parking in order to protect the viability of the local hospital.
“Therefore, officers have developed a proposal to introduce a parking scheme where residents can park with permits but also allows non-residents to pay for parking. We will be discussing these proposals with residents in the coming months.”
A spokesman for Stockport NHS Foundation Trust - which runs Stepping Hill Hospital - said: “We make it clear to our staff that if they park in nearby streets, they must do so both legally and courteously, not blocking any driveways or pavements.” ●●SEE Letters on page 10.