Residents take calls for parking permits to town forum

Residents of St Ives Road are calling for on-street parking permits and the speed limit to be lowered to 20mph.

They say the council has a duty to provide them with car parking spaces as the flats in The Hub do not have any.

Speaking at a meeting of the Town Forum last night resident Vittorio Orsatti said: "Every day we have to compete with non-residents for a space on the street.

"The situation leaves us with the only option of parking far away from our homes or purchasing season tickets at the off-street parking in the town centre which costs around £700.

"For this reason we would like the council to implement a residents parking scheme on St Ives Road."

He said that similar schemes were in place in Bridge Avenue and Bell Street and so to be fair the council should put one in their road as well.

Deputy Parking Manager Iain Wallace said St Ives Road was very busy with visitors to the library and town hall and allocating some of the spaces to residents would be extremely difficult.

He suggested residents park in the Town Hall car park across the road, which is free after 5pm with an Advantage Card.

However residents said some of them worked shifts or from home and needed to park during the day as well.

The forum agreed to look into the situation and discuss it with Cllr Colin Rayner, cabinet member for highways and streetcare.