The Molesey Residents Association is a non-party political organisation which aims to protect and enhance the amenities and the environment of East and West Molesey.

22/10/2016 SURREY COUNTY COUNCIL PARKING REVIEW: EAST MOLESEY UPDATE

Surrey County Council (SCC) is responsible for local on-street parking controls, and is carrying out a comprehensive review of its town and village on-street parking controls on a rolling programme, looking at each community in turn.  As we reported earlier, SCC’s review of parking controls in Molesey began in April, and we encouraged residents who had concerns about difficulties caused by on-street parking in their roads to contribute their ideas and suggestions to the review.

Surrey County Council (SCC) is responsible for local on-street parking controls, and is carrying out a comprehensive review of its town and village on-street parking controls on a rolling programme, looking at each community in turn.  As we reported earlier, SCC’s review of parking controls in Molesey began in April, and we encouraged residents who had concerns about difficulties caused by on-street parking in their roads to contribute their ideas and suggestions to the review.

The objective of SCC’s review, and SCC’s overall parking strategy, is to achieve a balance by providing sufficient on-street parking provision, subject to controls or restrictions where these are appropriate. SCC also said that one of the key criteria would be if parking at a particular location made the situation more dangerous.

Latest Position

SCC Highways Officers have now completed their review of controls in Molesey. The exercise has taken over 6 months, and they have assessed all requests made by local residents objectively in line with the Council’s overall parking policies and strategy. A number of changes to the current restrictions have been recommended, and these will now be published for formal consultation with a view to introduction in around 6-9 months.

Outcome and Recommended Changes

Many residents submitted requests and suggestions to the review and will be interested in the outcome. Some of the main recommendations are summarised below, but if you want to look at the details:

SCC Report Moleseys and Dittons parking review

SCC Report Moleseys and Dittons parking review Annex

The recommendations include:

Hurst Road: Extension of the double yellow lines on the south side of the road, in order to reduce congestion and blockages on this main road; and the removal of some yellow lines on the north side, near the War Memorial, to provide some additional spaces.

Bridge Road shopping area: Extension of the current limited waiting periods to prevent all day parking on Saturdays; provision of some short stay (30 mins) parking spaces; and provision of some motorbike parking spaces.

Parking on corners: Additional restrictions to prevent dangerous parking on or near corners in a number of roads, including Arnison Road, St John’s Road, Vine Road and Manor Road.

Requests not adopted

The Highways Officers assessed all requests objectively against set criteria and policies, but concluded that a number should not be progressed. These include petitions from residents in a number of roads in East Molesey asking for a one hour “residents’ only” scheme to prevent commuter parking in roads close to Hampton Court Station (including Palace Road, Wolsey Road, Arnison Road and others) to free up on-street space for residents and shoppers.

The officers considered these requests carefully, but concluded that they should not be progressed for a number of reasons. These are detailed in the officers’ report, but the officers concluded in particular that:

  • the residents in these roads generally have significant off-street parking, and the Council’s policy is to introduce permit schemes only where this is not the case;
  • the Council’s overall strategy seeks to avoid introducing restrictions which cause displacement, and the officers concluded that this would cause considerable displacement into streets already under parking stress which do not have off-street parking facilities (such as Kent Road, Pemberton Road and Park Road).
  • as there are already limited waiting provisions in the Bridge Road area it is difficult to conceive that there is a need to create a large number of additional on-street space for shoppers; and the current arrangements also allow space for local workers, who may be on relatively low pay, to park and work in the local area.

Next Steps

The Council’s intention to introduce the changes recommended in the Highways Officers’ report will now be advertised, and is subject to formal consultation. Depending on the outcome of the consultation exercise, the recommended changes would then be introduced in around 6-9 months.

If you have any queries in the meantime, please contact Councillor Stuart Selleck ()