I WAS interested by the letter about parking last week from a fed-up resident in Woodville Street. I live just around the corner, and am also fed-up with the cars on these streets, but because they block the pavements which are, after all, for pedestrians.

The city council wants to reduce unregulated parking by workers and shoppers in residential areas, and its local transport plan makes a special mention of the parking problems in the Woodville St/Williamson Rd area. Given that car ownership seems quite low in our neighbourhood, we have a golden opportunity to improve it by banishing commuter parking, reinstating our pavements to their rightful users and improving the streets by adding some trees or shrubs. Could this be one of those elusive 'win win' situations?

The answer is 'yes', but it will need two things. First, that the council consults us properly. Their plan says that residents' parking zones for our streets are 'being developed', so I look forward to them contacting us all in the near future. Second, that the car-owning residents be willing to put their hands in their pockets to pay for the inevitable parking permits. Hopefully no one thinks that buying a house gives them the exclusive right to park outside it for free, and so they'll be willing to pay for using the street in this way. (Luckily, buying a house in this neighbourhood does guarantee us all access to local shops and a short walk to the city centre.) If we can get over those two hurdles, then I reckon we can all look forward to safer streets, free of the current parking and pedestrian frustrations.

Sue Holden

Williamson Road

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