Trowbridge residents see red over double yellows (From Wiltshire Times)

Trowbridge residents see red over double yellows

5:00pm Saturday 28th January 2012 in Trowbridge By Mike Wilkinson, Senior Reporter

Jeremy Carr, Sindy Williams, Sarah Hills with youngster Niamh Evans, Paul Beety, Kerry Beety and Paul Williams are among residents furious that Wiltshire Council plans to take away parking spaces

FURIOUS Trowbridge residents have branded Wiltshire Council “like Big Brother”, after they were told new double yellow lines would stop them parking near their own homes.

A plan to paint many Trowbridge town centre streets with double yellow lines has been proposed by Wiltshire councillors, to the dismay of residents in the Eastbourne Road area where parking is already limited.

Council bosses want to paint the lines down one side of the road, which would result in 12 fewer parking spaces for the street.

Retired Paul Williams, of Eastbourne Road, said: “This is completely unnecessary. We have lived here for 21 years and there has never been a problem.

“Why does this Big Brother council feel it needs to tell the residents that we can no longer manage our own parking issues, like we have been doing for years, with tolerance and patience for each other.

“There isn’t a single person around here that thinks this is a good idea.”

Kerry Beety, from neighbouring Harford Street, said: “There is already limited parking. There are many mums, including myself, that already have to park some distance from our homes and carry or walk small children from the car.

“Even at the best of times, it is difficult to park anywhere near our houses and this is only going to make it worse.”

Catherine Bryant, the manager of the See-Saw Nursery in East-bourne Gardens, said: “This would become an issue for our parents when they have to drop off their children. It is just going to shift the problem further down the road.

“We know it’s busy down here, but the traffic never gets blocked and everyone gets on well, so there’s a lot of give and take.”

A consultation exercise is being carried out by Wiltshire Council before a decision is made, but residents hope a 100-signature petition will change councillors’ minds on the plan.

The increase in car parking charges in the town centre last April has been blamed for a rise in the number of non-residents’ cars parking in the area.

Sarah Hills, of Harford Street, said: “People don’t want to pay for their parking in town any more, so we are now finding that they’ll park up here and walk down into town because it is not far.

“Of course, the more people that park and the less spaces we have that aren’t painted yellow, the more challenges we face here.”

A Wiltshire Council spokes-man said the double yellow lines were needed to improve access for emergency services and waste crews.