Parking Restrictions - Latest News
Significant progress has been made to bring parking restrictions to Love’s Farm, but LFCA needs your input now to ensure that the right restrictions are implemented.
Following residents’ meetings on 20 October and 17 November, illustrative plans of the proposed restrictions for both spine and side roads are now available for comment (links are below, or you can see the plans on display at Love’s Farm House). This is your final opportunity to influence the plans before Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) drafts the formal plans and Traffic Restriction Order (TRO) from mid-December.
Summary of Proposals
A map of the proposals can be viewed here (version 2.2 - 02/12/2017)>>.
The proposal will be updated as we receive feedback, so do check back here.
Please note that the yellow lines marked on the spine roads are double yellow lines (no parking at any time). Currently, all residential side roads will have
single yellow lines (a 1 hour period of no parking) except where parking bays are explicitly marked. More details follow.
Spine Roads (Stone Hill, Great High Ground, Dramsell Rise, Station Square, Kester Way, Hogsden Leys)
The proposal is for a combination of double yellow lines (no parking at any time) and specific areas of unrestricted parking. The aim is to give some flexibility for residents to continue parking while easing congestion and ensuring that emergency vehicles can get through. Anyone will be able to park in these unrestricted areas, not just residents.
The specified parking areas on Station Square and Kester Way will be time limited (probably two hours maximum) to assist with station dropping off, visiting shops, Leonardo’s and Love’s Farm House. Other designated parking on spine roads will not be time restricted.
Following feedback from the school and others it is also proposed to apply double yellow restrictions to School Drive.
Side Roads (all other roads)
Based on the feedback from the recent survey (see below) the plans include single yellow lines with a one-hour restriction on Monday to Friday only (probably 11am-12pm or 12-1pm) on side roads. The exceptions to this are:
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Access to driveways will be protected by a white Access Protection Marker (APM) rather than a yellow line.
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No restrictions on existing parking bays that are clearly marked on the road and/or on developer’s site plans.
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Private courtyards and other private roads will continue to be administered by management companies or BPHA rather than adopted by the council – these are out of scope of the proposals.
At this stage no other exceptions have been identified, but...
We need your input
We would love to hear from you if:
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You have any disabled parking requirements
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You have copies of developers’ brochures that show the location of designated bays
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You spot mistakes on our draft plans for the location of designated bays and private courtyards.
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You feel that the proposed unrestricted places on spine roads should be amended.
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You feel that there is room for additional areas of no restriction on your side road. This will provide additional 24/7 parking, but bear in mind that anyone (you, neighbours, residents on other streets, commuters) will have just as much right to use them. LFCA will seek agreement from neighbours to find the best approach, so if possible please discuss and agree with neighbours first.
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You feel that the proposals are right. Please drop us a quick email so we know whether the scheme has residents’ support.
LFCA will work with CCC to review comments. All comments received by 8 December will be responded to.
Please note CCC will not allow parking on bends, junctions or other places which severely limit visibility for other road users.
How to respond
LFCA will run this part of the consultation until
Friday 8 December.
You can:
If possible please consult with your street rep and neighbours before commenting.
Why have restrictions at all?
LFCA has received numerous complaints about parking on Love’s Farm over a number of years. In response, it surveyed residents in 2015. Based on the results of this survey, it submitted an application to the Local Highway Improvement (LHI) initiative at CCC to develop and implement parking restrictions. The key issues raised in the application included parking that presents a danger of collision and congestion due to narrow roads, danger to pedestrians due to limited visibility and a risk that emergency vehicles may not be able to respond in an emergency due to obstructions.
Based on this criteria, illustrative plans for the spine roads were drafted earlier this year. In October and November LFCA conducted a survey (appearing in the October issue of Love’s Farm News). 460 people responded to this:
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79% said they supported the proposed restrictions on spine roads.
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48% said they supported single yellow lines on side roads. A further 21% said they supported double yellow lines on side roads. In total, 69% favoured some kind of restriction on side roads.
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There was an option for residents on side roads to opt out of the scheme for their road. No side roads had a majority of residents opting out.
Recap of Timeline
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LFCA residents’ survey 2015 — over 80% of residents surveyed said they had experienced problems with obstructions from parking and parking presented a safety hazard.
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Local Highway Initiative (LHI) bids to Cambs County Council (CCC) 2016 and 2017
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Spring 2017 – Joint funding by CCC and Gallaghers for parking restrictions
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Illustrative proposals developed in conjunction with CCC
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Oct-Nov 2017 — online survey to gather residents’ feedback on these proposals.
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20 October and 17 November — meetings to review proposals
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Further opportunity to comment on illustrative plans (until 8 December)
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LFCA to work with CCC to review comments
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CCC will draft formal plans and TRO
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Formal consultation by CCC, early 2018 – please also respond to this
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Implementation is planned for spring 2018
Frequently asked questions
A number of issues were raised by those responding to the recent survey. Here are some common ones with LFCA’s response:
Restrictions will be too onerous on residents: people have only limited off-road parking, and it’s inconvenient not to be able to park outside my own house.
The challenge in drawing up the illustrative plans is to balance potential inconvenience to residents with the wider safety and traffic flow objectives of the scheme. The illustrative plans attempt to achieve this balance but are open to further feedback from residents.
Why not have resident parking permits?
Over many years, councillors have lobbied for residents’ parking permits for the Longsands area and other areas in St Neots. LFCA has lobbied for this for Love’s Farm, too. We have been told that CCC gives priority to schemes in Cambridge City where there is no off-street parking. LFCA will continue to lobby for these but we believe it is best to get on with the current proposals because permits are unlikely to be agreed quickly. Unrestricted areas could conceivably be converted into residents-only areas in future.
Displacement – any restrictions will move the problem of commuter parking elsewhere.
The recent implementation of restrictions around Longsands Road mean that, without its own restrictions, Love’s Farm will see increasing commuter parking. The reason for including all roads in the estate is to avoid the problem being moved from one road to another.
How far will the double yellow lines around junctions extend into side roads?
This will be determined by CCC but we have been told there is some room for flexibility on the length of these.
Why not have single yellow lines on spine roads?
The main argument for restrictions on spine roads is about safety, and single yellow lines wouldn’t address this. Instead, the proposal is no restrictions in places where it’s considered safe to park, which gives more flexibility for residents.
Make your voice heard
Please do get in touch with your feedback. Residents on each street will know what works best for them, so don’t let this local knowledge go to waste.
David Wells, 21/11/2017