Winnall residents are calling on Winchester City Council to take action on rogue parking on a number of streets across the estate.
Members of the community are expected to pay at least £80 a year, with additional costs for multiple cars and visitor’s permits, to guarantee a parking space for their vehicle. However, increasingly residents have found high numbers of illegally parked cars taking up the amount of street parking available.
Local campaigner and resident, Sam Feltham, who ran for city council in May has been pressing local authorities on a number of issues, including student accommodation and litter. He is picking up the issue alongside local MP Steve Brine and says; “I've only ever seen one traffic warden in Winnall enforcing the permits that we pay for. It's incredibly frustrating for myself and my fellow local residents to be at the bottom of the priority list in the eyes of the Council.”
Mr Brine discussed the issue with residents during a ‘pop-up’ street surgery held last week outside One Stop on Garbett Road. He adds; “There are always global issues that concern people but this is a problem literally, right outside peoples’ homes and it’s not fair if they cannot given they’ve signed up to – and had to pay for – a permit of their own.“
Among those Steve and Sam met were Len and Liz Mears who live on Garbett Road. Len says; “When we were asked to vote in favour of permits on Winnall, I and probably many others assumed that as Winchester City Council were going to make a good deal of money from the idea, that they would spend at least some of the profit on policing the estate. So far it seems that a traffic warden once every three months or so is enough? It isn't, wake up WCC.”
Other issues raised at the surgery included the removal of branches cut down by the City Council several months back which haven’t been taken away. Mr Brine said he was picking both up as casework with WCC.
Pictured; Steve Brine MP with Sam Feltham and Mr and Mrs Mears on Garbett Road, Winnall.
