Car windscreens have been ‘smashed’ in a parking war which has come to a road in Ancoats.
Residents on Weybridge Road have now started a petition calling on the council to take more meaningful action to stop parking which they say is ‘not safe’. They have taken issue with cars parking on a high grass verge on the road, which they say limits access for bin lorries, emergency vehicles, and prevents drivers from safely pulling out of junctions due to poor visibility.
However, despite the petition, and agreement among local councillors that more enforcement is necessary, council bosses say they are powerless to do anything in the short-term. They have instead pinned their hopes on a new parking strategy which is in development.
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“You look out the window and all you see is cars,” Jaime Lightbrowne, who started the petition on Tuesday (March 7). “You can't see trees — it’s just a car park.”
Jaime has lived in Ancoats all her life — splitting her time between Weybridge Road, where she grew up and lives now, and Radium Street. The 36-year-old mum says the rise in high-rise apartment buildings in the area has exacerbated the parking problem.
She continued: “We have a drive so we can park there, the issue really is that the council signs off on developments but they do not look at the infrastructure. Apartment buildings here can have 400 flats, where can you put those cars?
“Last night there were over 20 cars parked on the verge. It’s not safe. It’s a high curb and high grass verge.
“I put my little girl to bed and I was so fed up and I thought we need to do something in an articulate way. My voice alone is not enough. I need people to join in with me and a petition is the best we can do.”
Chris Northwood, a Liberal Democrat campaigner who lives in the vicinity of the road, added that some of the issues are due to drivers heading to town parking in Ancoats and walking in.
She said: “Some of it is people in flats, and other times it’s people dumping cars because it’s free parking close to town. There’s not a huge shortage of parking in town, but it’s free.
“It’s become a flashpoint. Some have had windows smashed, and people leave cones out to stop people parking outside their house.”
Chris called on the council to speed up the process of starting a new parking scheme for Ancoats and Beswick, the implementation of which was approved by the council in February 2022. It was proposed by Labour Ancoats councillor Majid Dar.
Coun Dar, and his Labour Ancoats colleague Coun Irene Robinson, described the situation as ‘disgraceful’ in a joint statement to the MEN. It said: “Parking down Weybridge Street and the surrounding area is disgraceful and we share residents' anger on it.
“It makes it harder to drive down the street and wrecks the grass. We've been fighting for more funding to combat this and last year Majid Dar secured an expansion of the Eastlands parking scheme, so we can tackle this head on.
“Despite us regularly asking for parking enforcement in the area, it's a sticking plaster on the problem and we’re changing the rules on parking in the area to benefit residents. Since Coun Dar’s addition to the budget we’ve got a project manager in place and residents will be kept up to update about what we’re doing as we push this through as soon as possible.”
The MEN understands that the council is set to use feedback from the Eastlands parking scheme, to ‘shape’ the initial plans for a similar move in Ancoats.
A spokesperson from the authority said: "Funding has been secured by the Council to develop a residents' parking scheme in Ancoats and New Islington, a project the Council remains committed to.
“This project is currently in the early stages of development, with data being collected on how residents and businesses use this area. It is important that engagement takes place to ensure the type and frequency of parking issues caused by out of area vehicles can be thoroughly assessed and understood.
“When the time comes the Council would encourage all residents to make their views known so that the final scheme is best suited to their needs."
They added that the council was ‘limited in regards to enforcement’ due to the lack of double yellow lines or parking bays in the area. “The Council has on several occasions lobbied central government to give greater powers to local authorities to allow problematic parking, such as the kind on display in Ancoats, can be properly addressed,” they added.
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