As we predicted, local residents have voted overwhelmingly against the introduction of a controlled parking zone in Victoria Ward. In September 2010 I consulted widely on this issue just as the County Council started its own consultation exercise. The feedback I received at the time was that it was simply a tax on parking, it would not solve congestion and would just move the problem around (I likened it to squeezing a balloon filled with water). There was also concern that a CPZ would not be properly enforced. So at the County Local Committee on 19th April ALL the Lib Dem County Councillors backed the views of the majority of residents and voted against the scheme.

Of course, this means that we are now back to square one in trying to find solutions for those roads (for example Victoria Close) where there is a genuine problem with non residential parking (and my colleague Cllr Sue Knight wanted to find local solutions whilst Cllr Wilsdon argued for incentives to be offered to get drivers to use car parks again). But at least residents in other roads (who don’t happen to have a driveway or garage) are spared from having to pay to park in their own road