After persistence by the local Lib Dem Councillor team on behalf of local residents the work is due to start on providing parking space in the Windsor Garth area to help the bus service to keep running in the area and to respond to the loss of spaces (and more demand) following the Hob Stone development. The situation has not been helped by the loss of the 28 garages in the Newbury Avenue area. The construction will start at the beginning of April and will last 3 weeks. It will be the eco grid system which has worked well in other parts of the estate (progressed by the Residents Association). The specific scheme had been consulted upon with local residents at the beginning of January.

The Westfield Ward Councillors have been taking forward residents’ concerns about parking in Bachelor Hill. Unfortunately due to the system that replaced the Estate Improvement Grant (voted on by tenants) this has taken much longer than we had hoped.

Officers have finally come back with proposals for up to an additional 5 parking spaces using the Eco-grid (plastic hexagonal system used in the rest of Bachelor Hill) in the area in front of the garages. (see highlighted below) This will involve the planting of three trees to replace the existing willow in front of the salt bin which council officers are stating needs to be removed so that drivers can make observations before driving out of these spaces.

This is part of a range of schemes to tackle parking issues across the ward using Ward Committee and Housing Estate funding.

So far 90% of residents returning the form from a door to door survey of residents living in Bachelor Hill have backed the scheme which would see option 1 and option 2 delivered.

 

Parking provision has been an increasing issue around the ward as areas where car ownership was very low has recently seen an increase, however, many parts of our area were not built with this in mind.

There is a mix of Ward Committee Funded Schemes (which have been through the ballot) and HEIP (Housing Environmental Improvement Programme) which replaced the former Estate Improvement Grants.

Subject to investigation of underground utilities (see note at the end of the article) the proposed timetable is as below using previously allocated resources (more could come from the 2018/19 ward committee funds ballot which is currently being voted on by residents)

Spurr Court – August 2018

Danesfort Avenue near junction with Middleton Road outside flats – August 2018

Thoresby Road outside 12-24 (62 metres in length) September 2018

Askham Lane (outside 198/200 and 206/8) September/October  2018

Bramham Avenue (outside flats 49-55) October 2018 – this is part of a wider programme to improve access to buses to the estate on the number 1 route.

There will be a number developed in the Kingsway West and Windsor Garth area for November 2018 – detailed locations will be developed in light of the investigation for utilities (the presence of these can make a parking bay prohibitively expensive)

The relevant statutory undertakers’ equipment details for all of the above schemes before the end of May 2018. Once the position and depth of any services in the areas concerned have been identified, this will ultimately determine whether parking pays can feasibly be delivered. Should this process reveal any services that prevent the required depth for parking bay construction being achieved, this is likely to render a scheme as not being feasible.