Public question time at the Ventnor Town Council (VTC) last night was dominated by residents concerned over the proposed changes to parking restrictions in St Catherine’s Street, Ventnor.
As readers will be aware, there is currently a public consultation taking place to change many parking restrictions in Ventnor, but of particular concern is the proposal to remove 20 parking spaces from St Catherine’s Street.
Decision counter-productive
St Catherine’s Street resident, Mr Owens started the ball rolling by pointing our how counter-productive the decision will be.
He questioned the absence of alternative parking options and felt that the reasons given by the Highways department for the change were overstated. Pointing out that if parking is removed, traffic will move much faster along the street, Mr Owens felt that it would cause a hazard for those who have front doors opening directly onto the street.
He went on to say that the street is not a through road and that the parking there works well at the moment, so “if it ain’t broke why fix it?”
Where is consideration for disabled drivers?
Another resident, Mr Arnold, then asked what would happen about those using disabled bays, raising the important point that these people would not be able to walk up from Wheelers Bay car park.
Surprise response from Cllr Scoccia
At this point, Cllr Susan Scoccia piped up, saying in a rather irritated tone (a taste of what was to come for the rest of the meeting) “Is this not a public consultation? You should write to the Isle of Wight Council.”
Members of the audience confirmed they had already written to the council, but wanted the VTC to know how they felt about it.
Over 50 cars not just 20 affected
Jayne Goodlet spoke next, saying that it was not just 20 cars that would be affected by over 50. She went on to say that parking was at breaking point on Madeira Road and Beaconsfield Road as well as St Catherine’s and that the Wheelers Bay car park was often full by 6pm every night.
70 strong petition
Eddie Goodlet spoke next telling the VTC that he had a petition with over 70 signatures objecting to the changes.
Chair responds
Mayor Cllr Welsford said as ward councillor he took on board the concerns raised. He explained that the reason for the proposed changes was due to members of the public raising safety concerns after a lorry had hit one of the rising gas mains.
He agreed that there may be other ways around the problem and urged all members of the public to write to the Isle of Wight Council before the deadline of 1st January (details on how to do it).
Cllr Mew finished by requesting that a meeting be arranged between VTC and Mr Downer (council officer responsible for car parks) to look at providing more parking in Wheelers Bay which is poorly and inefficiently marked out. Cllr Wellsford agreed to organise this.
Image: Bredgur under CC BY-SA 2.0
