Opinion divided as plans proposed to merge S2 and S4 parking zones in Stratford to sort overcrowding
A ‘parking war’ is brewing in Stratford as residents fight for precious space on residential streets to park their vehicles.
Warwickshire County Council are currently consulting on its plans to merge S2 and S4 parking zones in the town that lie north of Guild Street principally in an attempt to sort overcrowding in S2.
The attempt to fix problems in S2 has the potential to cause further misery for drivers in S4 – which covers Tyler Street, John Street, and Payton Street.
Residents have until 6th September to register their opinion on the scheme.
Problems were identified back in January 2022 when county councillor Tim Sinclair (Con, Stratford North) acted on complaints from residents in the S2 zone who struggled to find parking spaces.
It was deemed that the misuse of visitor parking permits were a major part of the problem. However even after the new digital system was introduced to issue permits, the problems persisted.
After Cllr Sinclair took up the matter up with the county council a consultation went ahead, with the goal to use the S4 zone’s capacity to spread out parking options for visitors and residents across a larger area.
Perhaps not surprisingly residents in S4 were not happy.
A county council spokesperson said: “Much of the feedback opposed to the scheme centred around the perception that the excess demand for parking spaces from the S2 zone would then leave the S4 zone equally over-subscribed.
“With this in mind, detailed analysis of the layout of the S2 zone has been carried out in order to maximise the availability of spaces, which in turn then minimises the level of ‘overspill’ parking into the neighbouring zone.”
As well as making changes to the times and durations when non-residents can park, under the new proposals 11 additional spaces will be freed from restrictions and made available.
The plans will effectively do away with S4, and instead those residents will get an S2 permit.
This week, Cllr Sinclair told the Herald: “The residents in S2 asked me to investigate this matter and as part of my delegated budget I funded a professional external survey into parking usage across the zones.
“Conscious that there are strong feelings both in S2, who want change and S4 who don’t, I’ve not been involved in the outcome of the WCC officers deliberations on this, but I’ve left it to their independent expertise to determine the most appropriate solution. This requires a difficult balance between two very different positions.”
Referring the situation as a “brewing parking war”, Stratford district councillor Roger Harding (Lib Dem, Stratford Welcombe) told the Herald: “Unfortunately, things are getting quite nasty.”
“There’s a lot of pressure. And there does seem to be a lot of permit abuse. People are apparently selling them or lending them to people who work in the town, who then park there all day.
“People of S2 are really under pressure because anyone who lives on pedestrianised Henley Street and Meer Street, or anywhere around there, is entitled to apply for on-street parking permits for S2. They want something done about the lack of spaces, and the county think the solution is to merge with S4.
“However people in S4 are under pressure as some idiot granted planning permission for a hotel [the Premier Inn] at the end of Payton Street with 90 bedrooms and not one parking space on site.
“On top of that, you’ve got the BT depot at the end of the road and vans parked on the road all day.”
Offering solutions, Cllr Harding said: “We need to stop visitor permit abuse by all-day parkers who work in the town.
“Secondly, I think we need to draw the boundaries tighter to S2 and S4, and people on Guild Street, Henley Street and Meer Street should really have permits to park in the Windsor Street multi-storey.
“It does have its own problems with anti-social behaviour, and people nearby want it closed, but I don’t think that’s possible. To my mind, the more use it gets, the less ASB you’re going to get.”
Disagreeing with the Windsor Street idea, Cllr Sinclair said: “I’m not at all convinced that’s a sensible or viable solution.
“Firstly the town centre residents would need to be happy to park here, and Windsor Street is a very unpleasant and potentially unsafe location to leave your car overnight. Secondly, this car park has been ear marked for removal as part of the Gateway Project.
“Finally SDC would need to be willing to provide the spaces at no charge to the residents. So a nice idea on paper but I suspect it’s unrealistic in practice.
Any objections or comments must be made in writing to the council at the Shire Hall, Warwick, address, or sent by email to pmc@warwickshire.gov.uk by 6th September.
