BOROUGH OF POOLE
TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY GROUP –THURSDAY 6 JULY 2006
REPORT OF HEAD OF TRANSPORTATION SERVICES
Petition – harbour hill road
1.Purpose of the Report
1.1To consider a survey of parking conditions in the Harbour Hill Road, Pound Lane and Gorse Hill Road area.
- Recommendations
- It is recommended that:
(a)The concerns of the petitioners be noted and they be informed that a residents parking scheme is not appropriate in Harbour Hill Road
(b)It is recommended that approval be given to advertise the following orders.
i)‘No Waiting at any Time’ restrictions at the junction of Harbour Hill Road and Harbour Hill Crescent and around the bend at the Fernside Road end of the road(as shown in Appendix A).
ii)‘No waiting 8am-10pm and 2pm-4pm Mon – Fri’ restrictions along the north eastern side of Harbour Hill Road and on both sides of Harbour Hill Crescent (as shown in Appendix A).
iii)‘No Waiting at any Time’ restrictions at the junctions of Pound Lane with Gorse Hill Road, Harbour Hill Road and Kingsbere Road (as shown in Appendix B).
iv)Introduce an additional coach bay in Pound Lane to provide additional formal coach parking – the Coach bays will be restricted to 8-10am & 2-4pm Mon -Fri (as shown as Appendix B).
v)Extend the existing no waiting 8am-10pm and 2pm-4pm Mon – Fri restrictions along the northwestern side of Pound Lane between the Kingsbere Road and Gorse Hill Road Junctions (as shown as Appendix D).
3.Information
3.1On 9 March 2006 this group considered a petition, signed by residents of 75 households in Harbour Hill Road and Harbour Hill Crescent. The petition reads:
“We the residents of Harbour Hill Road and Harbour Hill Crescent Poole, formerly request that the council urgently review the parking situation in the above roads, with the intention of introducing a restricted parking zone for Residents only “permit parking” with a limited 2 hour visitor parking from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday for the following reasons:-
With the expansion of the Heckford Park Residents Parking scheme commuters are now using these roads as a free car park” restricting residents drives and impeding the flow of traffic.
With the forth coming opening of the Nursery School at No 80 Fernside Road, we envisage an even greater traffic flow, further adding to congestion and Mother and Child safety issues on the corner of Fernside Road and entering Harbour Hill Road”
3.2The report to the March meeting is attached at Appendix F. Concerns were also raised about parking in Pound Lane and the northwestern ends of Harbour Hill Road and Gorse Hill associated with the school. It was resolved that:
The petitioners be advised that further on-street parking surveys will be undertaken to gain a full understanding of the situation and a further report brought back to this Group.
Parking Survey
3.3Registration number parking surveys were carried out on Wednesday 10 May 2006 to establish the level of parking in a number of roads in this area where complaints have been received about parking problems. The results of the survey are shown in Appendix E. Essentially, the survey indicates:
i)Parking is heavier in Harbour View Road that in the other roads that were surveyed.
ii)Apart from the southern end of Harbour Hill Road, there is still space in all the roads for residents and visitors to park close to their destination.
iii)The surveys are not able to identify which vehicles are owned by residents and visitors and which are owned by town centre/hospital workers, but they indicate that less than half of the vehicles that are parked in Harbour Hill Road/Crescent at the busiest time are associated with the town centre(less than 43%). The proportion is lower in the rest of the area.
iv)The overall number of cars that park all day and are not associated with the residents is small (a maximum of 43).
3.4The Resident Parking schemes introduced around town centre have reduced the overall amount of parking but there will inevitably be complaints about displaced parking in roads around the periphery. While the parking controls will reduce parking by non residents they also cause inconvenience to those residents and visitors that live in the roads concerned. Experience indicates that introducing parking controls in individual streets would merely displace the parking into other roads nearby, while forcing very local employees and tradesmen to park further away.
3.5Residents experiencing intrusive parking in their street and having difficulties accessing their off-street parking is not in itself sufficient justification for introducing residents parking schemes. Many residential accesses on roads around the Borough experience this type of problem, and as a result the Council has a policy that parking restrictions are not introduced to protect private accesses. The current parking zone now has a logical boundary similar to the one originally defined in the Council’s Parking Policy. The original reasons for introducing the controls in the areas closer to the town centre were:
i)To reduce peak hour traffic volumes on the approaches to the town centre by encouraging town centre workers to consider alternative ways of getting to work.
ii)To allow opportunities for residents in the areas close to the town, in areas which generally have low levels of off street parking provision, to park near their homes during the day.
3.6It would not be appropriate to extend the Heckford Park parking controls into this area. The parking controls would need to cover most of the study area in order to avoid merely displacing the parking further along the road. This would be quite costly and would cause inconvenience to a large number of residents who do not currently experience significant problems. The surveys indicate that it would do little to achieve the two main aims of the original scheme (outlined above).
3.7The concentration of parking at the Fernside Road end of Harbour Hill Road does lead to a localised problem, however, and it would be appropriate to impose waiting restrictions to protect the bend and the sightlines from Harbour Hill Crescent.
3.8It would not be appropriate to displace additional parking into Harbour Hill Crescent as the cul-de-sac does not have an appropriate turning area. It is suggested that the standard 8am-10am, 2pm-4pm Mon-Fri parking restriction be advertised in Harbour Hill Crescent to limit the amount of parking in the road. This restriction could also be applied along one side of Harbour Hill Road to keep the parking to one side of the road.
School parking in the Pound Lane area
3.9Residents raised concerns over the level of parking in Pound lane and the surrounding roads at school start and finish times and a specific survey was carried out to investigate the pattern of parking for end of the school day.
3.10There is a limited section of parking restriction in Pound Lane near the entrance to the path leading to the school. The survey indicates that the lines are reasonably well respected until the pressure for parking spaces increases as the school finish time approaches. Parking does occur on both sides of Pound Lane during this period but this is not uncommon and can be accommodated in a road of this width (7.1m). No accesses were blocked during the period of the survey.
3.11There are parking problems outside most of Borough’s schools, and it is not uncommon for waiting restrictions to be abused. Often the parents are waiting in or close to the cars at the time and so a Parking Attendant would not often be able to prepare a penalty charge notice before the vehicle moves off. Nevertheless, it would be appropriate to impose no waiting at any time restrictions at the junctions of Pound Lane with Harbour Hill Road and Gorse Hill Road.
Coach Parking
3.12There have been complaints from residents concerning parking of the coaches in Pound Lane. St Mary’s School is a church school and therefore has a relatively large catchment area. This means that pupils tend to travel further distances and this inevitably generates more vehicular traffic and unfortunately means that fewer pupils are able to walk or cycle to school. Coaches provide a suitable alternative to car use, with many pupils qualifying for free transport in accordance with the Borough’s Home to School Transport Policy. The use of coaches is in line with the Council’s policy on supporting alternative forms of transport and this mode of transport should be supported as it provides a viable alternative to the car.
3.13There are currently 5 contracts for buses to and from St Mary’s School, 3 operated for the Borough of Poole, one for Dorset County Council and one organised by the school itself. In order to avoid the congested conditions in Hunt Road and Devon Road, the 4 Poole coaches serve Pound Lane.
3.14There is currently only one coach bay in the road, located as close as possible to the footpath linking to the school. While coach drivers are encouraged to wait further along the road and then move forward when there is space in the bay, the drivers can find it difficult to do this when the road is congested and this does mean that children have to wait at the end of the lane until their coach arrives. Sometimes the driver chooses to arrive early to get a place near the lane and sometimes coaches wait on the yellow line.
3.15It would be appropriate to make more space available for coaches at the end of the lane as the prime location should be reserved for the vehicles carrying the majority of the pupils. Previously there had been a reluctance to mark a bay across driveways and this limits the number of spaces that can be provided. In practice the coach would only be waiting on the stop for a short duration whilst picking up or dropping off passengers, and while this may cause temporary access problems for the 2 affected properties this type of problem already occurs at many other bus stop locations. It is suggested that the coach bay should only apply between 8-10am and 2-4pm Mon-Fri so that residents can park here outside those periods.
3.16A longer bay would help more coaches to pull up as close to the kerb as possible to help pupils to board quickly and help traffic to get past. There were particular problems if vehicles parked opposite the coaches, and the coaches have difficulties moving into or out of the bays when cars are parked on both sides. It was noted that pupils were crossing the road between parked cars to be picked up on the other side of Pound Lane and it would be appropriate to extend the existing single yellow line to keep parking to one side along Pound Lane.
STEVE TITE
Acting Head of Transportation Services
Appendix A – Harbour Hill Road and Harbour Hill Crescent
Appendix B – Harbour Hill Road and Pound Lane
Appendix C – Parking Survey
Appendix D – Report to Meeting on 9 March 2006
Name and Telephone Number of Officer Contact:
Stephen Dean (01202) 262071
TAG060706T3A
APPENDIX D
BOROUGH OF POOLE
TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY GROUP –THURSDAY 9 MARCH 2006
REPORT OF HEAD OF TRANSPORTATION SERVICES
Petition – harbour hill road
1.Purpose of the Report
2.2To consider a petition from residents of Harbour Hill Road requesting a residents’ parking scheme.
- Recommendations
- It is recommended that:
(c)The concerns of the petitioners be noted
(d)The petitioners be advised that further on-street parking surveys will be undertaken to gain a full understanding of the situation and a further report brought back to this Group.
3.Information
3.17A petition has been received, signed by residents of 75 households in Harbour Hill Road and Harbour Hill Crescent. The petition reads:
“We the residents of Harbour Hill Road and Harbour Hill Crescent Poole, formerly request that the council urgently review the parking situation in the above roads, with the intention of introducing a restricted parking zone for Residents only “permit parking” with a limited 2 hour visitor parking from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday for the following reasons:-
With the expansion of the Heckford Park Residents Parking scheme commuters are now using these roads as a free car park” restricting residents drives and impeding the flow of traffic.
With the forth coming opening of the Nursery School at No 80 Fernside Road, we envisage an even greater traffic flow, further adding to congestion and Mother and Child safety issues on the corner of Fernside Road and entering Harbour Hill Road”
3.18Parking controls now been apply throughout most of the area surrounding the Town Centre. The Controls were introduced for the following reasons:
i)To reduce peak hour traffic volumes on the approaches to the town centre by encouraging town centre workers to consider alternative ways of getting to work
ii)To allow opportunities for residents in the areas close to the town, in areas which generally have low levels of off street parking provision, to park near their homes during the day.
3.19The Council’s Parking policy, adopted in 1995 and updated in 2001 defined a parking restraint zone with a boundary at Fernside Road. However the scheme has since been extended into Linthorpe Road, Hunt Road and Devon Road as these roads experienced displaced parking from both the Heckford Park and Civic Centre Area Parking schemes. The latest phase of parking controls, Heckford Park Stage 3, is currently being introduced.
3.20Since the introduction of these schemes there have been a number of complaints about displaced parking in roads around the periphery. Complaints have been received not just from Harbour Hill Road and Crescent, but also from Pound Lane, Winifred Road and Darbys Lane. This illustrates that an increasing number of roads will have to be included if the boundary of the parking controls is extended further out from the centre of the town. Experience indicates introducing parking controls in individual streets would merely displace the parking into other roads nearby, while forcing very local employees and tradesmen to park further away.
3.21The current level of parking is small in comparison to the large numbers of vehicles parked close to the town centre before the controls were introduced. Extending the parking controls further would achieve little more of the initial aims of the scheme:
i) Town Centre congestion would not be significantly effected
ii) Residents are generally able to find an on street parking space near their homes
3.22Experience indicates that in residential areas remote from the employment centre there is more opposition to resident permit schemes as residents see less reason for having restrictions imposed them. There is also less need for residents to buy permits in the outlying areas. Appendix B indicates the differences in permit uptakes for a sample of roads at differing distances from the employment centres.
3.23The implementation, administration and maintenance cost of the scheme is funded from permit sales, and if there is less permit uptake in roads further from the employment centre then these costs would be difficult to recover . It is also difficult to justify introducing parking controls in one road when this merely displaces parking into other similar roads nearby.
3.24Residents experiencing many cars parked on street and having some difficulties accessing their off-street parking is not in itself sufficient justification for introducing residents parking schemes. Many residential accesses on roads around the Borough experience this type of problem, and as a result the Council has a policy that parking restrictions are not introduced to protect private accesses.
JAMES T BRIGHT
Head of Transportation Services
Appendix A – Existing Controlled Parking Zones
Appendix B – Number of resident permits sold in a sample of Town Centre roads
Name and Telephone Number of Officer Contact:
Stephen Dean (01202) 262071
TAG090306H
APPENDIX A TO THIS REPORT IS NOT AVAILABLE ELECTRONICALLY – PLEASE CONTACT DEMOCRATIC SERVICES IF A COPY IS REQUIRED.
APPENDIX B
Sales of Resident Parking permits in a sample of streets in the Town Centre and Heckford Park area.
Road / No of Properties / No of permits issued / average number of permits per propertyStanley Road / 51 / 45 / 0.88
Kingston Road / 95 / 65 / 0.68
Market Street / 32 / 15 / 0.47
Garland Road / 138 / 60 / 0.43
Stokes Avenue / 54 / 17 / 0.31
Hunt Road / 80 / 22 / 0.28
Linthorpe Road / 43 / 10 / 0.23
Denby Road / 20 / 3 / 0.15
Brailswood Road / 38 / 1 / 0.03
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