Blocked-in residents ‘stressed’ by parking
RESIDENTS on a Sheffield housing estate who say they suffer stress and nuisance because of traffic problems have renewed their pleas for a parking permit scheme.
People living in Castle Croft Drive, Norfolk Park, have launched an online petition over the high levels of parking, despite the city council saying last year that plans for a permit scheme would not be pursued.
Residents say much of the problem is due to students at the nearby Sheffield College Granville Road campus parking on their road, with pavements often blocked by cars, forcing pedestrians onto the road, and making it difficult for other vehicles to get through.
All the houses have driveways but residents say these are often blocked.
One resident said it is a constant worry as her daughter has a lifelimiting illness.
The woman, who did not want to be named, said: “We need access to our drive day and night as we may have to take our daughter to A&E at any point due to her conditions.
“Due to the terrible parking, we often struggle to get out of the drive. I was verbally abused outside my home by five lads who I asked to move their car so I could get my car out.
“Life in our street has become so bad due to the parking with the anti-social behaviour, not being able to walk my dogs and my children on the pavement. It is depressing.”
Another resident, who also wanted to remain anonymous, said that when parking issues were first raised, the council said the residents would get a permit scheme but they just needed to go through a process.
She said they felt everything changed after the death in December 2022 of Anne Murphy, one of their ward councillors. “Anne was a real champion of ours, she was really pushing it.”
The woman said councillors and officials visited in November 2022 to see the problems for themselves.
But she said she was shocked when she saw a ward councillor describing their problems at a later meeting that she watched online as an “urban myth”.
“Then we got a letter saying they weren’t going to do anything at all at Park Hill,” the woman added.
Residents say they now feel abandoned by the council.
A spokesman for Sheffield Council said residents in the Park Hill area were consulted on a permit parking scheme in March 2022 and of the 1,088 responses, 905 objected to the plans, including some residents of Castle Croft Drive.
A new proposal with a smaller boundary, including Castle Croft Drive, was presented to the transport, regeneration and climate committee in June 2023. But the committee decided not to implement it and residents were informed the parking scheme would not be revisited in the near future.
Andrew Hartley, deputy chief executive at Sheffield College, said: “We are sorry to hear about residents’ concerns. We strive to be a good neighbour and expect our students to be respectful to others on and off campus.
“Given how busy the area is, it is unclear whether all of the issues involve our students. However, we are committed to working with the community and partner organisations on the matters raised.”