Big parking dilemma for Little London (Leeds Liberal Democrats)

Leeds Liberal Democrats <info@leedslibdems.org.uk>

Big parking dilemma for Little London

June 16, 2006 2:07 PM

Cllr Ewens (2nd left) outside of Holborn Court/Shay Street with a local resident, police officer and Leeds City Council Housing Officer, Philip Greenwood (far right). Councillor Penny Ewens spent two hours pounding the streets of Little London with council officers and local police officers in an attempt to thwart illegal parking. Taking a polite and non-confrontational approach, the eight-strong-team put out cones from 7am to prevent commuters from illegally parking their vehicles on residential roads.

Debbie Carpenter, a resident in Carlton View, said "I'm delighted that action is being taken to deal with the problem of people parking outside our front doors. Emergency vehicles and contractors often have difficulty reaching us."

Bus chiefs Metro (West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority), have recently had to divert the number 51/51a service from Servia Road due to parked cars making the route impassable. An upshot of which is that elderly and disabled people cannot access alternative stops without a long walk and steep climb.

This issue is something that Cllr Ewens and her ward colleague Cllr Kabeer Hussain feel urgently needs addressing, deploring the slow legal procedure of getting parking restrictions and Resident's Only orders extended to affected areas.

Councillor Penny Ewens (Lib Dem, Hyde Park & Woodhouse) said "Whilst I have found that numerous residents were delighted that we were taking such a proactive approach to the issue of illegal parking, it's not without problems. The bus service that used to run up Servia Road has had to be rerouted as the parked cars have caused trouble when buses need to pass one another on such a narrow stretch."

Councillor Ewens added, "Both the police and the council's housing department must take credit for this latest initiative but we need a permanent solution."