Councillors and Kennet Place resident, Val Compton, were dismayed by the news announced at last night’s Marlborough Town Council Meeting, February 1, that Wiltshire Council is unable to review a residents’ parking scheme for the town. The review had been promised for 2019/20 but Wiltshire Council has now declared they are unable to follow this through due to their staff being redeployed to other duties since the start of the pandemic. They hope to be in a position to revisit the scheme in 2022.
Val Compton, who has been lobbying for a residents’ parking scheme since 2012 and has collected evidence that residents in Kennet Place would support the scheme, said, “It’s really demoralizing to have to wait another year to move one step forward and it’s trying everyone’s patience.”
Cllr Farrell said, “People are upset because they can’t park where they live. We need to start this as soon as possible and put pressure on Wiltshire Council.”
Cllr Fogg called the delay, “outrageous”. Councillors agreed that Wiltshire Council should be approached to consider a pilot residents’ parking scheme for Kennet Place with the idea of extending it to other areas of the town such as Kelham Gardens, The Green, St Martin’s, Culvermead Close, Kingsbury Street, The Mead in 2022.
Due to the cost of administering and enforcing such a scheme Wiltshire Council would make an annual charge for each residential permit. The number of permits available to households may be limited dependent on the available kerb space and opportunity for off road parking. Consideration of any scheme by Wiltshire Council is dependent on a minimum of 50% of responses from households within a zone. The provision of residents’ parking schemes is not a statutory duty of Wiltshire Council.
January 2021 – a cold start to the year
