Is the county council ignoring Bexhill residents’ parking restrictions wishes?

Is the County Council ignoring residents wishes in the Parking Consultation?

The County Council consulted Bexhill residents last January about the proposals to introduce parking restrictions and permits in parts of Bexhill. At the time 74 residents of Woodville Road submitted a petition as part of the consultation asking for Woodville Road to be included in the West Parking Permit Zone as there was concern about existing problems for ambulances accessing the care home, multi-occupancy flat owners with no off-street parking being unable to park due to all day parking by office workers and other related issues.

The County Council has now published its final proposals in a 21 day consultation that closes this Friday 27th Sept at midnight. The petitioners’ request in January has been completely ignored and no reason can be established, despite written requests to the ward County Councillor Cllr. Simon Elford for an explanation. Was the petition ever considered by County Council Officers in drawing up the final scheme, or has the petition just been ignored without any explanation through feedback??

What also needs explanation and correction is that the report states that for the West Zone 26 people responded at the time of the January consultation saying they lived in the zone. This figure is clearly incorrect as 74 people, all living in Woodville Road, part of the West Zone, signed the submitted petition. In the same report, discussing the West Zone, the report states “...there were requests for the (permit) zone to … include Woodville Road…”. However, the fact that a significant majority of Woodville Road residents made this request but this number was not stated specifically in the report is economical with the true position and is misleading.

It is very unfortunate that neither a member of the County Council Office parking team nor Cllr. Simon Elford attended the street meeting a week ago (Tues. 17th Sept) in Woodville Road organised by our local Rother District Councillors, Cllr. Mrs. Bayliss and Cllr. Courtel, despite requests made to the County Council in advance. It had been hoped that clarification about the apparent ignoring of the petition would have been given by the County Council at the meeting.

If the County Council and our County Councillor continues to ignore our requests for an explanation it may be necessary for Woodville Road residents to take the matter up with our local MP, Huw Merriman MP, who is a member of the Transport Select Committee, and recently invited the cross-party group of MPs to visit Bexhill as part of their inquiry and evidence gathering, so they could see for themselves the issue of illegal parking.