Authority has a responsibility to residents over parking

From: John Charnock, Sunny Place, Robin Hood’s Bay.

AS the lockdown has eased, the number of visitors to Robin Hood’s Bay has vastly increased and parking, always problematic in the summer months, has become a nightmare.

I am sure that this is the same in Whitby and Scarborough.

As a disabled property owner in the lower village in the Bay, life, never easy from the access point of view, has become much more difficult in the last month or so. The village sports only two disabled on-street spaces, on Mount Pleasant, and four in the car parks, two each in the Bank Top and Station parks.

I have a blue disabled badge (I have rheumatoid arthritis), as does my son.

North Yorkshire County Council, the responsible body for disabled parking provision, refuses to consider additional marked disabled provision because Sunny Place is not a road.

Scarborough Council could only grudgingly offer a resident parking pass, helpful but without any reserved spaces not really helpful at all in the busy months.

There is no designated resident parking in Bay and the situation has reached an intolerable level when all the car park spaces are full, there is no street parking space even on grass verges up to the old church in one direction, and Thorpe in the other.

Parking on double yellow lines with the blue badge is acceptable if not causing an obstruction, etc, but only for three hours.

There is private parking on

Fisherhead but space is limited, it’s over £300 a year, and I believe there is a waiting list for passes.

The council seems uninterested in looking at the problem, which is only made worse by the ‘staycations’ and day-trips which have increased as a result of the easing of the pandemic lockdown.

I accept that this is almost certainly an issue in many seaside resorts, but surely a council’s responsibility is to the residents who after all pay, quite apart from their responsibilities toward the disabled and less mobile?

From: William Doyle, Guiseley.

I AM becoming incensed by the number of drivers routinely parking on pavements with no thought for pedestrians, the disabled and wheelchair users.

They’re making already narrow pavements impossible for pedestrians like myself. It’s akin to driving without due care and attention – where are the police, and traffic wardens, to issue a few parking tickets to send out the message that courtesy and common sense apply to all?