The Result of the 3rd - 10th June Exhibition of "Options" for a Residents Parking Scheme for Hay-on-Wye, held at Hay Librray 

An email from Powys County Council to Councillor Gareth Ratcliffe.

Cllr. Ratcliffe,

Following the successful consultation/exhibition event for proposed Residents Parking schemes in Hay on Wye, the feedback is being analysed and will be available for publication.  The result of the analysis will determine how best to proceed and changes to the proposals will be considered and the proposals altered where appropriate. 

Such changes could include:

• the type of restriction proposed [i.e. ‘residents only’ to ‘residents and limited waiting’, or vice versa]
• the amalgamation of schemes in the central area
• reducing the streets under consideration 

It is intended that the outcome will again be discussed with the Town Council and decisions made, following more direct consultation (a postal drop is suggested) will be conducted with residents who would be directly affected by the revised proposals.

As a result of the consultation responses and discussions with yourself some initial changes have been made to the TRO proposals.  The double yellow lines on Hay Industrial Park attracted comment from residents of Meadow Park and the proposed length of the restrictions will now be limited to only cover the length from Brecon Road to just past the second entrance to Anderson.  Parking will therefore be possible on approx. 65m of the road leading to Meadow Park and will continue to allow workers to be picked up.

Regards, Phil Jackson.

It doesn't really tell us much except that it seems again the public won't be consulted!

We think calling the exhibition "successful" is perhaps a little ingenious.

A Plea from CRAP to our political masters

Below is an email sent out to those who have told us they wish to be kept in touch with the CRAP campaign.

We hope that the local community will be properly consulted before what we consider is an ill-thought out and probably unworkable Residents Parking Scheme is imposed on Hay-on-Wye.

We've tried to keep the email as neutral as possible but believe it very important we, the residents, locals and traders of Hay-on-Wye are given the opportunity to look at all available opportunities before any Residents Parking Scheme is imposed on us.

We suggested email that can be sent to: 

Gareth Ratcliffe (Hay-on-Wye County Councillor)

cllr.gareth.ratcliffe@powys.gov.uk

David Jones (Powys County Council - Cabinet Chair

cllr.david.jones@powys.gov.uk

Barry Thomas (Powys County Council - portfolio holder responsible for Highways, traffic management etc.)

cllr.barry.thomas@powys.gov.uk

Phil Jackson (Powys County Council - Transportation Manager)

phil.jackson@powys.gov.uk

Tony Caine (Powys County Council - Road Safety and Traffic Systems Manager)

tony.caine@powys.gov.uk

Kirsty Williams AM (Welsh Assembly Member for Brecon and Radnorshire)

Kirsty.williams@wales.gov.uk

Roger Williams MP (Member of Parliament for Brecon and Radnorshire)

roger.williams.mp@parliament.uk

There will be a meeting at Hay Community Centre at 10:00 tomorrow morning (Monday 24th June) when we hope to outline our concerns to Roger Williams MP.

Obviously the email can and should be adjusted to reflect the individual writer’s particular viewpoint and concerns but I hope the outline will serve as a basis for any message.

We/I write to state my/our concern about the lack of consultation that Powys County Council has undertaken with the community in Hay on Wye over their proposals for the introduction of Residents Parking in the town.

The council held a display during library opening hours at Hay Library from 3rd to 10th June promoted as “an exhibition of options for a Residents Parking Scheme in Hay-on-Wye”.  Unfortunately the only option displayed was a “Street Zone” proposal that offered a limited number of town centre residents the option of securing a Residents Parking Permit which would be valid only in the street adjacent to their homes.

You will be aware that other proposals have been put forward to the council including one produced by a local campaign, a “Whole Town” scheme that would allow all residents of the central town area the opportunity of buying a Residents Parking Permit which would be valid in all shared use parking streets in the central town area.

Since the exhibition, other proposals have emerged and feelings are running high among the community.  We believe it important that Powys County Council live up to the four fundamental principles of Openness, Inclusivity, Integrity and Accountability that underpin its commitment to good Corporate Governance to ensure that there is “credibility and confidence” in the Residents’ Parking proposals it offers the people of Hay-on-Wye.

Rather than rushing through a contentious plan, it is surely better to take more time and encourage the local community to examine all the different proposals and alternatives and ensure that the finally adopted Residents Parking Scheme serves the needs of traders and visitors to Hay as well as meeting the aspirations of as many of the town’s residents as possible.

In passing, we do suggest you look at the admirably produced, and very obviously extremely committed site, 'keephayfree' on Facebook.  IWe don’t agree with what the campaign is trying to do which we believe to be completely impractical, but we do believe they have a right to be heard.  keephayfree has been fairly vitriolic about CRAP and has wiped the responses we have tried to post to various of their claims - Ah well!

Best wishes

     

  

CRAP & Facebook

Oh dear, I’m new to Facebook and have never really seen the point of joining until being told about the campaign being run by ‘Keep Hay Free’ against Residents’ Parking Permits being introduced in Hay.

I've therefore joined Facebook and hope I've managed to dowload this statement there.  It's probably far too long, but please bear with me and if you can be bothered, hopefully you will see the full story of CRAP’s campaign

First let me say that I started the Campaign for a Realistic Approach to Parking (CRAP) and yes I am a recent resident of Hay, having lived here only four years, and no, I don’t own a business here.   So far so good, but just to get some facts straight –

I started CRAP as a reaction to Powys County Council plans to take over Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) in April 2011.  Up to then, Dyfed Powys Police had responsibility for CPE in Hay; we had one Traffic Warden and things got along pretty well.  Everyone knew where to park, there was little friction and parking rules, although on the face of it very restrictive, were enforced with common sense.  In other words, although an imperfect system, it worked!

In April 2011, we were faced with a very different situation, Powys took over responsibility for enforcing parking restrictions throughout the county, appointed eight new Traffic Wardens (Civil Enforcement Officers) to police the system – and all hell broke loose!  Parking Tickets were issued like confetti and I believe it true to say that most people in Hay, residents, traders and visitors were very unhappy with the new enforcement regime.

From April 2011, CRAP has campaigned to promote a sensible and realistic alternative to the new situation.   We believed the existing parking restrictions were outdated and insufficient thought had been given to any provision being made for residents’ parking in the town.  The Powys County Council ‘Prohibition and Restriction of Waiting and Loading and Parking Spaces, Civil Enforcement and Consolidation Order 2011’ to give it it’s full and glorious title, with which Powys assumed Civil Parking Enforcement, made provisions for Residents Permits and other Parking Dispensations but no effort was made to introduce them. 

CRAP believed that there was no going back to the old laissez faire system and we were stuck with Powys running CPE for the foreseeable future, the only sensible way forward was to try to persuade the county to update its parking regulations, back off from its draconian enforcement of town centre parking restrictions which we believed was damaging local businesses and make some provision for local residents’ parking.

We felt it was important not to impose our ideas without consultation with the local community.  CRAP held several local meetings, distributed questionnaires, contacted our local council, our MP and AM and kept the local press informed of our campaign.  We started a blog, CRAP-Powys.blogspot.com and started to lobby Powys County Council to look at Parking in Hay as an urgent priority.

After local discussions, we developed a suggested parking plan for Hay which proposed the town be divided into three areas.  First, a Green Zone, was to be the main retail commercial area of the town centre where we proposed there was to be no residents’ parking, leaving the area for visitors and shoppers who would be able to park for various limited periods.  Second, a Red Zone, the streets adjacent to the main retail area bounded more or less by Heol-y-Dwr, Oxford Road, Church Street and Broad Street.  This area was to have mixed parking, allowing visitors to park for one or two hours but permitting residents with valid Residents Parking Permits (RPPs) unrestricted parking.  Zone three was everywhere else, where no changes were proposed.   We also made one or two additional suggestions.  (Full details of our scheme, and maps, can be seen on our 20^th February 2013 post in our blog CRAP-Powys-blogspot.com)

No proposed scheme can ever be perfect, but we had developed a scheme which the majority of people consulted, seemed to think would work.  Certainly it enjoyed the support of the Town Council, Gareth Ratcliffe our County Councillor and I believe, Hay Chamber of Trade.   We didn’t think the scheme would be adopted without change, but thought it would be a good starting point.  An important element of our campaign was to open the town centre cattle market to mixed residents’ and paid visitors’ parking on days it wasn’t being used.

We believe that in an ideal world, there would be no charge for visitors’ parking as an encouragement to local trade and made every attempt to ensure our proposals would not provide residents’ parking at the expense of the livelihoods of local shops and businesses.  We know that Powys, along with other local councils, was strapped for cash and that income from parking is important, if only to pay for CPE enforcement.  (Despite a Freedom of Information request, we have never been able to find out the full costs of Powys assuming responsibility for CPE!)  CRAP therefore believed the best way to secure council support for Residents’ Parking was to allow that there would be a charge made for permits.  Our original suggestion was £25 per permit but we finally opted for £52 per annum, i.e. £1 per week.  We also suggested there should be a limit on two permits per residence within the Red and Green Zones in Hay.

Our campaign continued and created some considerable stir, locally, nationally and unbelievably, even internationally; our blog attracting visitors from over thirty countries.   Unfortunately Powys seemed unable or unwilling to look at the problems we faced in Hay and we seemed to be getting nowhere.

In May 2012, Local elections brought in a new Hay Town Council and a new Powys County Council administration.  We had lobbied all County Council candidates prior to the elections and received support from many but by no means all, for our campaign.  Again, results can be seen on our blog.

The new Powys administration were much more supportive of our campaign and to cut a very long story short, thanks very largely to the hard work and support of Councillor Gareth Ratcliffe, finally agreed to introduce Residents’ Parking and eventually, to run a trial scheme in Hay, as we had “done so much preliminary work”.   If successful, the scheme would be expanded to other towns within Powys.

At a meeting in September 2012 with Powys County Council officers in County Hall, Landrindod Wells, attended by Gareth Ratcliffe and representatives of Hay Town council, we presented the CRAP proposals and received the promise that these would be taken into account when final proposals were drawn up.

In May this year, we received notice that Powys had at last developed their proposals for Residents’ Parking in Hay and proposed to hold a public “exhibition of options for a Residents Parking Scheme for Hay-on-Wye” in Hay Library starting from June 3^rd to June 10^th.  We were horrified by the lack of publicity for the exhibition and the fact that it was to open the day after the Hay Literary Festival closed.  We were also very unhappy with Powys’ proposals which we believed offered no promised “options” but rather promoted only their plan which recommended a divisive and unworkable system that we believed was a. impractical, b. unlikely to enjoy the support of the local community and c. would end up with Hay voting for only partial adoption.

We believed adoption of this plan was the worst possible outcome and would result in us losing the opportunity to establish a workable scheme for the town.  I reiterate that CRAP has never felt our scheme would be adopted in total, but we had hoped some elements of it would be incorporated in the Powys plan.

What then are the differences?

Both Powys and CRAP are aware that there are too few parking spaces for the likely demand and neither scheme can guarantee parking to every holder of a Residents Parking Permit.

The Powys Plan calls for all existing Residents Parking Zones (RPZs) in Central Hay-on-Wye (current 1 and 2 hour RPZs) to be shared Visitors’ and Residents’ Parking except Bear Street which it is proposed will be Residents Only.

CRAP proposes the same except that Bear Street will also be a shared use RPZ.  It also believes that all Council adopted road within central Hay should be part of the scheme.

The Powys Plan allows only residents living adjacent to designated streets (Street Zone Scheme) to qualify to apply for Residents Parking Permits (RPPs)

CRAP’s want all residents living in the central town area (Whole Town Scheme) to be able to qualify for Residents’ Parking Permits.

Powys wants to limit Residents to park only in the street adjacent to their home and not in any other residents parking zone.  If residents can’t park in their Street Zone, they can only park in the Car Park or an out of town unrestricted area.

CRAP believes that owners of RPPs should be able to park in any shared use RPZ in the town centre area.  If residents can’t park in their own street, they can park in any other town centre shared RPZ, in the Car Park or in an out of town unrestricted area

Powys believes that RPPs should be limited to one per qualifying household in any Street Zone.

CRAP believes that two RPPs should be available to any household in the central area.

Powys calls for Residents Parking Permits to cost £65 per annum (£1.25 per week)

CRAP suggests that Residents Parking Permits should cost £52 per annum (£1.00 per week)

The Powys Plan calls for the five parking spaces in Bell Bank to be shared use RPZs.

CRAP believes these spaces are important to town commerce and should not be available for Residents Parking

The Powys plan calls for a 51% of all residents in individual Street Zones, whether or not they already have private parking, to support the plan to adopt the plan for that Street Zone.

CRAP believes that a vote should include all residents of the town centre area, excepting those who already enjoy private off street parking.

There are of course other differences, but in essence CRAP believes (I believe) that the only way to ensure that we can adopt a sensible Residents Parking Scheme which supports local businesses yet allows town centre residents a reasonable opportunity to park somewhere near their homes rather than in an unprotected car park or out of town, (where recent thefts and vandalism have shown cars can be at risk) is to adopt a Whole Town scheme, making parking available to all town centre residents, rather than the proposed Street Zone system which allows parking only to a limited number of residents.

We believe that to do nothing is not a realistic option.  Whether we like it or not, Powys County Council has responsibility for Civil Parking Enforcement.  Currently, they have backed off from enforcing parking restrictions as fully as they might, if no new system is embraced then the existing restrictions will be fully enforced and we shall have got nowhere.  Proposed shared use RPZs will be timed zone RPZs and no residents’ parking will be permitted.   Most of Lion Street , Church Street and Heol-y-Dwr currently enjoy no parking restrictions, Booth Gardens displays unauthorised (and illegal) signs and there are a few anomalous unrestricted parking areas in the town.  If Powys start to enforce existing parking restrictions, (or the currently proposed Powys Street Zone system is only partially adopted) these outside areas will come under increasing pressure from both displaced residents as well as people working locally and visitors, to the detriment of local residents.

The Powys proposals are being promoted as a trial, and truth to tell if the proposed system is introduced, it will probably fail and an opportunity lost – again!   We believe if a trial is to be started, it should be a trial of a system that stands at least some chance of working, for the benefit of the majority of the town, residents and traders.

These then are the choices.  If you think I have misrepresented the situation or you have any preference or hold an opinion about any of our or Powys’ proposals, then let us, Powys, or Gareth Ratcliffe know – before it’s too late and the proposed trial starts.

Powys County Council 1 - C.R.A.P Nil

It's the penultimate hurdle!

We hope you've seen the exhibition at Hay Library, if not go tomorrow, or at latest Monday and make your opinions known.

Powys County Council have presented the community with what seems to be a fait accompli.

The options on offer are :

1. To accept what the council are offering - a Street Zoned parking policy

2. Reject Residents Parking as an option in Hay

3. Suggest an alternative

C.R.A.P offered an alternative but council officers claim that at a meeting held with our local County Councillor, Gareth Ratcliffe and two (unnamed) Town Councillors, the Street Zone system was the option approved.   Apparently the whole town alternative was rejected although it met policy guidelines,

A Street Zone system will:

1. Allow Residents Parking only to Residents in specified areas and then only in the immediately local street

2. Not allow Hay residents living outside a 'street zone' to apply for a Residents Parking Permit 

3. Create a system where residents unable to park in the limited area their Street Zone permit allows, attempt to park in one of the few remaining non zoned areas, or somewhere out of town.

What is the unspecified and unpublicised alternative?

A town Centre Residents Parking scheme (broadly along the lines of CRAP's original proposals.) and broadly adopting the Powys suggestions for shared Residents and time zoned parking areas

What would this mean.

1. Any householder living within the central town area would be eligible to apply for a Residents Parking Permit

2. Holders of a Residents Parking permit would be able to park in any shared parking zone in the scheme area, not just a designated 'Street Zone'

3. It will obviate, or at least reduce the necessity for 'scrambling' for limited spaces in a 'Street Zone'

4. It will release more space for visitors and shoppers when shared spaces are not occupied by residents.

5. It will be a town wide scheme and discourage anti-social behaviour from people trying to,protect their 'local' parking.

We are assured by Powys County Council Officers Tony Caine and Phil Jackson that residents' comments will be taken into account no whilst no alternative has been offered other than the 'Street Zone' system on offer, if their is enough pressure from the community, their proposals will be looked at again.

We can only hope so!

The alternative - is to do nothing!

In which case, Hay won't have an effective Residents Parking scheme.

IT'S UP TO YOU!

 

Powys County Council's proposals for Residents Parking in Hay displayed in Hay Public Library

Powys County Council's proposals for Residents Parking in Hay are being displayed in Hay Public Library from 3rd to 10th June.  Officers from Powys will be at the library on Friday 7th and Saturday 8th June so all interested parties should attend and ask as many questions as they wish.  We have attached some suggestions.

We hope you have all had a chance to see the Powys County Council proposals for a Hay-on-Wye Residents Parking Scheme which are displayed in Hay Library.  Powys staff will apparently be on site on Thursday and Friday and everyone is invited to complete a (rather inadequate) questionnaire and ask questions regarding the "options" available (It seems the options are to accept or reject the PCC proposals).

We are deeply unhappy at what seems to be a missed opportunity.  If this opportunity to start a sensible scheme is missed it will probably be a very long time before Powys will again address the problem.  We are unlikely to get a residents parking scheme in Hay - but perhaps that is the hidden agenda!

Anyway, attached are some questions we propose to ask the Powys representatives on Friday and we shall publicise their responses to our mailing list, on our blog and to the press.

QUESTIONS

Posters displayed around the town promoted a “Public Consultation” of a “Resident Parking Scheme” in Hay Library, promising “an exhibition of options for a Residents Parking Scheme in Hay on Wye will be on display”

1.     What are the other options being offered for consideration?

In order for the public to be able to make an informed judgement as to the proposals, the following must be made clear at the exhibition:

2.     What are the proposed time restrictions and operating days appropriate to each parking zone?

2a.    Where are these indicated and made available to the public?

3.     Is it proposed to include all council adopted streets in central Hay-on-Wye within the scheme?  Booth Gardens, de Breos Court etc.

4.     Will current parking areas not identified on the plan (e.g. Lion Street from Constitutional Club to junction of Heol-y-Dwr) be included in the scheme?

5.     Do PCC consider that the proposal to create a “shared use” parking zone of the six/seven spaces in Bell Bank will have any detrimental effect on local trade?  These spaces provide essential shoppers parking and long term residents parking might be disadvantageous.

6.     What action has been taken or is proposed regarding the community’s proposals to use the Cattle Market Car Park for additional residents/public parking when the market is not in use?

7.     What will happen to the responses gained from questionnaires completed during this consultation?

7a.    Will responses be made public?

8.     Will consultation/voting go ahead with ‘Properties Eligible for Permits’ as identified in the PCC proposals, irrespective of responses received from questionnaires?

9.     Will only ‘Properties Eligible for Permits’ (identified with stars on maps in the PCC proposals) be allowed to vote for individual street zone proposals?

10.    Will residents not living in ‘Properties Eligible for Permits’ be permitted to vote in any consultation process or be allowed to buy a Residents Parking Permit? (i.e. residents of Brook Street, Chancery Lane, much of Lion Street, Castle Street, etc.)

11.    Will voting be restricted only to householders without private parking or will all householders and businesses (as identified with stars on maps) be allowed to vote?

12.    Will householders separately occupying flats within one residence qualify for and voting and the right to apply for Residents Parking Permits if the scheme is approved?

13.    If restrictions on voting qualifications are to be enforced, how will this be done and by whom?

14.    How will voting response be audited?

15.    What percentage approval rate in any given street zone is required for the scheme to be implemented?

16.    Will voting responses be available for public inspection?

17.    Is the Powys County Council proposal all or nothing?  Must residents in all zones agree or can it be part implemented?

Summary

The PCC proposals are divisive. Parking is severely restricted in Hay-on-Wye.  Too many people, with too many cars, trying to park in too few places in an ancient town not designed for car parking. 

It is current practice, if one cannot find a parking space local to where one lives, to look for alternative space somewhere not too distant.  If Street Zones (SZs) are introduced, RPP holders will be unable to park elsewhere in the town other than in the few remaining (accidentally?) unrestricted areas.  This will prove unpopular and stressful and result in locals manoeuvring vehicles and proprietarily guarding their few available places.

Is the PCC proposed scheme of limiting parking to one street the best alternative?  Might not the better alternative be the community proposed scheme of Residents Parking Permit holders having the right to park in any designated shared Parking Zone?

The attraction of the Street Zone scheme for planners is obvious, it is more easily adapted for the different circumstances various town dictate and furthermore is very similar to the proposals already put forward by PCC officers.

A more flexible non-zonal inclusive RPP scheme representing an amalgam of the current PCC proposals and plans already produced by the community which allows holders of Residents Parking Permits to park in any designated Shared use Parking Zone in the town central area would prove to be more practical and welcome.

Inaccurate Mapping

PCC have made an attempt to list ‘Properties Eligible for Permits’ excluding those which already enjoy private off-road parking. (examples No. 7 Heol-y-Dwr - Brook House; The Old Forge, Lion Street etc.) but the listings are inaccurate.

Of 44 properties linked to Heol-y-Dwr Combined RPZ, 15 (34%) already enjoy private off-road parking.  Of 27 properties linked to Bear Street RPZ, 4 (15%) already enjoy private parking.  Of 50 properties, linked to Broad Street, 16 (32%) are commercial properties, not private residences and 10, (20%) already enjoy private parking