Parking blight

It affects not only residents but public transport and emergency vehicles on a daily basis.

In fairness, residents have raised these long-standing parking concerns directly with relevant county councillors over several years and also undertook an online residents’ survey, as advised.

As correctly stated, if it were not for a few inconsiderate, irresponsible car-owners consistently dumping their cars where any sensible driver would not park anyway – it would not require any further expansion of double yellow lines parking enforcement into these residential areas.

The worst and most dangerous pinch-points remain the busy T-junction between Swanfield Drive and Bradshaw Road (opposite Peregrine Court), where about eight to ten cars consistently park, with a few even parking in the bus stop, resulting in daily obstructions and congestion for local residents, plus the T-junction at Palmers Field Avenue and Kidd Road

Being a local resident, I have frequently observed St Richard’s Hospital care staff parking cars at these junctions, who in fairness, could pay £6 to park in the hospital ‘pay and display’ car park on site which is not always full every day.

Please simply do not scapegoat the local university student population, as these problematic car parking issues remain throughout the summer, Easter and winter vacation periods, when students are no longer on campus.

Perhaps St Richard’s Hospital could offer an imaginative ‘green’ solution by becoming a more progressive employer, as numerous organisations offer discounted car parking spaces to staff who adopt a car share scheme, or perhaps more controversially, pay frontline nursing staff the nationally agreed incremental pay awards (due to them), to cover the ‘exploitative’ car park fees most hospitals continue to charge both its patients and employees.

D. J. Gaylard

Peacock Close

Chichester

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