Residents’ Parking Scheme: what we now know (and still don’t)

Residents’ Parking Scheme: what we now know (and still don’t)

We have been asked if we could write a short piece, in plain English, about where we are on the Residents’ Parking Scheme.

Here goes ….. two versions – a simpler and a more complicated one.


Simpler version
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1. The Residents’ Parking Scheme is going to be implemented.

2. The County Council decided on September 16th to go ahead (they just haven’t got round to informing affected residents or businesses yet).

3. The County’s Head of Parking and Traffic Management has told us that she doesn’t know when scheme will be implemented. This decision rests with the Greater Cambridge Partnership.

4. The scheme will be implemented just as described in the information issued in the spring – despite the 288 objections recorded by residents and businesses about what was proposed.

5. Because of these objections, the scheme will be run as a pilot for the first six months.

6. At the end of this period, the scheme will be reviewed.

7. If elements of the scheme are found not to be working well, they could be altered. (BUT see more complicated version below.)

8. An email link is going to be set up to allow residents and businesses to comment on the scheme’s operation during the pilot period.

9. So do use this channel if you feel that you have been adversely affected by how the scheme works once implemented.


More complicated version
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1 & 2 above. The decision to go ahead with the Parking Scheme has been taken as an executive decision by Jeremy Smith, Interim Assistant Director, Transport Strategy and Network Management following a resolution (see attachment) to:

“Recommend that the Executive Director of Place and Economy, in consultation with local Members, approve the introduction of the Milton Road Area Residential Parking Scheme, as published;
and
Approve a review of on-street parking in the affected area six months after the Residential Parking Scheme commences operation.”

“The local Members either attended or were invited to the CJAC meeting. Given the political sensitivity of this item, the Chair and Vice Chair of Highways & Transport Committee have been given the opportunity to ask that the matter be referred to that committee, but have not made such a request.”

So the decision on whether to implement the scheme has not had to wait until the next meeting of the Highways and Transport Committee in December as we were previously advised.

It has already been taken by a County Council Officer. The H&T Committee has chosen not to ‘call this decision in’ despite (or perhaps because) it is ‘politically sensitive’.

Note too the suggestion that our locally elected have been consulted about this. None of them has contacted our residents’ association about this.

4. The only one of the 288 objections to scheme recorded in the attached document – ‘Cambridgeshire County Council Record of Officer Delegated Decision taken following consideration by Cambridge Joint Area Committee’ – deals with exclusion of properties on the northern boundary of Arbury Road, see attached report.

Note that “no other options were considered.”

5 & 6 & 7 & 8 above. The Cambridge Joint Area Committee recommended in July that “a thorough review be carried out 6-month after implementation to assess on-street parking in the area. Should it be deemed that sufficient parking capacity exists to accommodate additional the parked vehicles generated by Arbury Road properties, including Havenfield, then a proposal to amend the Milton RPS will be pursued.”

This recommendation did not meet with our request that the performance of the scheme during six month pilot should be actively monitored by an independent third party.

HOWEVER ….

Through protracted correspondence with County Council Officers, we have found out that our Residents’ Parking Scheme has been set up using a PERMANENT Traffic Regulation Order.

The procedure for a PERMANENT TRO does not allow for a trial period or for subsequent changes.

If, after the trial period introduced by the County Council, changes – such as that quoted above from the report attached – are deemed necessary, then the existing TRO cannot be amended.

Instead it will have to be revoked.

And then a new TRO will have to issued in line with Department of Transport’s regulations which appear to require that a new consultation will have to be conducted once a new TRO has been issued.

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AND SO ……..

Given the complexity surrounding the introduction of the Residents’ Parking Scheme, ARERA is committed to keeping a close watching brief on what is happening.

This is not easy given the inadequate/tardy information issued by both the County Council and by the Greater Cambridge Partnership.


If you have any queries, please let us know.

If you hear of anything that we need to be aware of, please let us know.

If you have any concerns about what is happening, please send them to your local elected councillors (details on ARERA’s web site).

ARERA Committee