New Parking Proposals

Have you seen the new Parking Proposals to reduce the parking problems of residents caused by nasty commuters and workers parking all day.
I think this is a wonderful idea, and I'm sure most reasonable people do too. All you need is to put a parking ban in for a couple of hours in the affected streets........ just like the schems already in place in Castle Hill and Castle Hill Avenue where the yellow line is to ban parking between 11am and 12, result, no all day p[arking.
Ah, but unfortunately the bureaucrats have devised a complete c**k up of a scheme - http://tinyurl.com/628fer9 - which puts parking bans in place from 8am until 8pm and 8am until 6pm.
So no more parking in the side streets at 6.30pm to go and visit the Rex, and of course let's make it totally impossible for any parents to park for 15 minutes in the afternoon and pick up their children from Berkhamsted School !!!!
And then to cap it they will be charging all the residents for a permit to park in their own street during the 'curfew' times.

You have missed the point. In the existing 'no waiting for an hour a day' area, they have garages/drives to plonk their vehicles, no such facilities exist in most of the proposed residents parking areas. Naturally, when these properties last changed hands the new home owners had no intention of having their own personal motorised transport due to nowhere to put it when not in use. As time passed, most employment land in the town was built on for more dwellings and the government ran out of money to keep paying these residents with nowhere to work to earn the money to live. In a cunning plan, the railway system to 'improved' to allow fast transportation out of the town as the station just happened to be within easy walking distance of most residents. Out of town there used to be plenty of opportunities to earn the money to live, but then these opportunities got less and the puff-puff didn't go to where new money earning facilities were. Hence the requirement to have their own personal motorised transport and the need to block up the public highways (which is naturally illegal, but who cares!!). This blocking up of the public highways can be turned to local government advantage but providing the very facilities that residents are looking for (no, not employment facilities) on street parking for a fee (naturally non-profit making as it needs policing). So the local authority are just meeting an immediate need. Being a far sighted and well organised local authority, if the organisation known as GUI managed to get the local plan altered to allow some form of development adjacent to the by-pass, then I expect a compulsory purchase order to be obtained for this land, so that a mix of employment in the form of a business park together with residential facilities in the form of mixed affordable rented accommodation provided by the local council (Maggie got that very wrong!!). There I go again, suggesting things that we actually need rather than what outsiders want to give us and ensure a profit. Just as an aside, the proposed development that GUI are suggesting apparently allows for a circular bus service. I wonder how long they will pay for it? One year, 10 years, 30 years? Answers on a postcard to................................... I really must stop all the thinking as it can't possibly happen as big business always gets it's own way due to having the money and we don't (well the BTC does have over £300,000 lying about, but they will think of something to use it for one day).

I take your point about needing to have a permit to identify a resident.
My main point is the sledgehammer to crack a walnut approach. If the real problem is all day commuter and town workers parking then the solution is to set some 2 hour periods throughout the day when any cars parked in the street need to display an inexpensive residents permit.
Why does there need to be 8am to 8pm and 8am to 6pm blanket coverage - are they going to employ more traffic wardens to cover these longer hours?
They don't need to.
Why do they need to have such long hours - 10 - 12 in some streets, 1 'til 3 in others would stop the all day problem parking.
Unless there is a hidden agenda of course and the problem is not 'All day parking by commuters and workers in the town'
Why are they planning on stopping parking near the Rex in Castle Street and Manor Street? Why doesn't it cover Murray Road whch gets narrowed by inconsiderate 'railway parkers'?
How are parents meant to collect their children from Berkhamsted Prep school if they cannot park for a short time in Doctors Commons Road or Charles Street.
The proposal starts ' There have been calls from residents in the Berkhamsted (sic) for the introduction of a 'resident parking scheme' to discourage inappropriate long-stay parking by commuters to Berkhamsted railway station and Berkhamsted High Street.
The solution they are proposing goes far beyond this - it penalises everyone not just long-stay commuters - except the residents of the street - hardly fair when it is a public street!!

As you say, we need to wave the magic wand and create more land and space!
To be slightly fair to the school, they do have staggered times and they do have a parking area and one way drop off area - sadly the space available is not big enough for when everyone turns up in their slightly over the top large 4x4's (so necessary for bumping up kerbs) and 'me first' attitudes which cause them to forget how to drive in a considerate fashion!
The one or two hour residents parking scheme would definitely be the best solution to the long-stay parking problem.
If the real problem they want to solve is parent parking then label it as such!!

Still wondering why cinema visitors will not be permitted to park in Castle Street or Manor Road after 6.30?

It's all very well thinking about the school in doctors common road but what about those of us that use the doctors surgery there - the surgery car park is always full and the walk from town won't always be realistic if people are unwell! Unfortunately there is no GP service in Northchurch so I have to use one in central Berkhamsted!

Please don't blame the school regarding the situation of parking during drop off & pick up times - when the Knox Johnson sports centre was being built, the school applied for a mulit story car park - and guess what the council turned them down!

As a parent I can understand why the residents of dr commons road get annoyed, but do not try & stop us parents at getting our children to school, under the pretence of stopping long stay parking. Yes some mums are very inconsiderate but please be aware, if the scheme comes into effect, the roads will be gridlocked around school drop off & pickup times, that residents won't be able to go anywhere.

Sorry - you must be aware of the geography of the area!!
Plenty of people do try and use the small parking and drop off area of the Knox Johnson sports centre to use the Kings Road entrance to the Prep School!
The Chesham Road prep school was a smaller school and only for boys - I don't think Chesham Road would have been at all able to cope with the numbers attending the Prep School in it's current form.

I give up. The 'school' creates a problem, washes it's hands of the consequences and the town suffers. Exactly why I suggested they decamp to where they could put all their facilities in one location.
The Dr Commons Road 'space' has just been filled up by others trying to get nearer the station. Do I really have to keep reminding people it is illegal to obstruct the public highway? It is only tolerated as this country is policed by public consent. The town council are only responding to residents concerns - half heartedly, but at least responding. Luckily for everyone, I am not on the council!
Once (if?) the residents parking scheme comes into force, then the vehicles will just more elsewhere, cause problems and so the merry-go-round continues. If anything is done then we all know what it is - but we won't like it!

OK, final comment.
As you know, the school was aware of possible problems being caused by relocating to the new expanded location. They carried out a survey themselves to identify the problem and came up with the solution. They were told it was not good enough and the 'solution' did not address the basic problem. This was ignored and we have the result.
I expect you also know the ages of the 'surveyors' who did it as a class project. Yep, education at it's best!