West End residents are urging the council to change new parking restrictions which they believe will increase “social isolation” and reduce the “quality of life”.
Around 2,600 people signed a petition calling on Glasgow City Council to alter the hours of the North Kelvin and North Woodside parking zone which came into force on Monday, August 8.
One homeowner, Julia Clarke, who lives on Shakespeare Street, said the “ill-advised” restrictions will cause “social challenges” for residents.
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In a letter to her local councillors, the concerned resident added: “I believe these restrictions will further impose social isolation on the residents of North Kelvin, following two years of severe social loneliness that have already led to significant mental health challenges in our community.”
A council spokeswoman said engagement had been carried out with the community “in line with the traffic regulation order”. It is understood amendments cannot be made until the zone has been in place for a year, when a review is carried out.
Local councillor Keiran O’Neill, the Labour representative for Maryhill, said a review in a year “just isn’t good enough”. He supports calls for “a grace period until the issues are sorted”.
“I recognise the need for parking controls as, I believe, do the vast majority of residents,” he said. “But this scheme has obvious flaws which have been consistently pointed out and the response from officers has bordered on total intransigence.”
Under the new rules, parking permits are available to residents for £85 per year or £23.75 quarterly while business permits cost £650 annually. Permits for residents’ visitors cost £2 for a set six-hour period.
Parking bays can be used by permit holders for free. Other drivers will currently be charged 20p for 15 minutes for the first hour then 40p for every 15 minutes after. The chargeable hours are between 8am to 10pm from Monday to Sunday and there is a maximum stay of three hours.
The petition called for the “overly restrictive” controls to be reduced, suggesting 8am to 6pm seven days a week would be acceptable and would reduce commuter parking while allowing residents to have guests at evenings and weekends.
Ms Clarke said the restrictions “allow each resident to purchase what amounts to 10 days worth of visitor parking vouchers per year”. “After this allotment has been exhausted, there is no option for visitors to pay to park in North Kelvin for more than three hours.
“My 85-year-old in-laws live in a village in Buckinghamshire which is not served by public transport and visit me here with their car three to four times a year for up to a week at a time so that they can spend precious time with family.
“After their impending visit in September, I will only have three days left, which means they can’t visit for more than three days and I can’t host any other guests with cars for a year.”
Ms Clarke asked for the launch date to be cancelled and echoed the petition’s demand that parking hours be reduced to 8am to 6pm. She also requested free parking on weekends and the opportunity for overnight guests to pay per 24 hours for parking at a reasonable rate.
“North Kelvin has no public parking garages nearby that visitors can take advantage of,” she added. “As things stand the only option seems to be for people to look for free street parking further out, in Maryhill and Ruchill, which I’m assuming isn’t the end goal of this scheme.
“This unfortunate situation will vastly reduce the quality of life for residents of North Kelvin, coming on the heels of two very socially destructive years.”
The council spokeswoman said parking zones have been “successfully introduced across the city over the last few years and one of the aims is to actually increase the availability of parking for local residents as they discourage people looking for free parking for long spells”.
“Another key aim is to have a positive effect on environment issues including air quality and the use of more sustainable modes of travel,” she added.
“Engagement with the local community has been carried out in line with the traffic regulation order and although a number of limited visitors permits is recommended, residents with particular circumstances can contact the council to apply for more.”
It is understood enforcement action won’t be taken this week and warning flyers will be issued to vehicles in contravention of the rules from next week. Enforcement is expected to start from August 22.
Rhona Cull, who launched the petition, has said residents now “have to prove these hours are excessive and get our case ready for review”. She has urged the community to “keep records of everything”.
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