Many local residents have been criticising a decision by Bath and North East Somerset Council to introduce pay and display machines in Royal Victoria Park.
Image courtesy of @louise_wain.
The plans by the Council to eliminate people using the park for all-day parking were announced back in November with a consultation period being held until the start of December last year.
Now the charges are being introduced, a petition has been started by a local resident against the cost and limitations that the parking restrictions will bring to the area.
In a statement by the Council back in November, they said: “Currently people wishing to use the park often cannot park because the roads are clogged with vehicles, many of which are commuters who use it as a long-stay car park.
“By introducing Pay & Display restrictions more short-term parking will be available for people wanting to access the park. Charges are set to encourage higher visitor numbers with tariffs lower than other parts of the city centre.”
The introduction of the parking measures follows the Lottery Heritage Fund awarding the Council £1.8million back in 2000 for improvements to be made in reducing the traffic through the park. They introduced pay and display in Royal Avenue in 2001 but have only initiated the rest of the park being restricted now as the time allowance for the lottery funding is close to running out.
Michelle, who has started the petition, told us: “I do agree that people who park in the park for work should be banned but this could be done by implementing a maximum stay 4 hours – instead they have put these machines in and now they will have to pay more traffic wardens to police the park.
“The council have a lot to answer for as it is, with charges being higher here than a lot of cities. We all pay our council tax, business rates, parking permits, higher costs to car parks and higher bus fares [which are] much more expensive in Bath than Bristol. “
The parking charges were first discussed by the Council back in 2008, though they were decided against at the time.
The statement in November 2012 claims the addition of pay and display in the park would make it safer. It said: “The proposals would also allow the allocation of areas designed to meet the needs of visitors to particular attractions within the park, like the Botanic Gardens, and improve safety because fewer cars are anticipated to be parked in the vicinity.”
The petition against the charges has already reached over 100 signatures, with some residents leaving comments such as: “The parking charges in Bath are ridiculous. There’s no fair charge for those if us that just pop into town for 30 mins.”
If you’d like to add your signature to the petition, you can find it here.
We asked more local residents about how they felt about the price of parking across the city, you can find their responses below.
@nowbath Raising parking charges without lowering bus fares simply puts costs up for people – its not providing a sustainable travel option.
— Dave Vernalls (@dvernalls) May 20, 2013
@nowbath yes they are far to high…what are the council doing about it…making it worse…. — Marcus Tullius Cicer (@georgianbath) May 20, 2013
@nowbath no. Still cheaper than buses for more than 1 person. Does council have a choice with RVP. Charge or pay back Lottery funding £1.4m — Steve Clarke (@withan_e) May 20, 2013
@nowbath NO, people moan about the city centre traffic. LOWER park & ride to a charge per car not person so that it works out cheaper. — Tilly (@TillyCottle) May 20, 2013
@david_navigator @nowbath Also, Car Parks charging a MINIMUM 2 hours is not a good idea if you just need to park for 20 minutes.#greedy
— Bob Smith (@Schmiffy12) May 20, 2013
@nowbath people are bemoaning the demise of high street in place of out of town shopping, perhaps the £5/6 for 2 hrs parking contributes?
— Rusty White (@rustywhite1984) May 20, 2013
