I met with parish council and city council representatives to discuss the parking issues on Monday.

The issues are complex. The city council advise that all the parking spaces for the flats are rented out, it looks like they are empty because cars are not parking in the spaces all the time. Although the flats may have been the cause of the new parking issues the planning system does not provide any route to force them to act to improve matters. The city council are supportive of any efforts to improve the situation although do not have any funding to deliver change. Ie they will help deliver leaflets, engage with residents and host community events at the Meadows Centre but cannot fund double yellow lines etc.

The parish council want to get a clear view on the current situation and agreed a process of collecting data. The process is roughly that a letter will be sent to all flats asking that they do not park on the corner of St Catharines Road/ Arbury Road. It is understood that not all flat residents have cars, some have parking spaces already and the issues may not be caused by any flat residents but this was the starting point for action.

The parish council is looking to monitor the extent of the parking issues particularly after the letters have been sent in case they lead to improvements in the situation. The parish council requests direct emails not social media comments. In particular there will be monitoring after the letters have gone out during the period last week of the school term and first week of school holidays to determine if the school plays any role in this issue.

Can I request as a starting point anyone who is concerned about parking issues emails the parish council and cc’s me now and that is repeated during the monitoring period.

clerk@hisimp-pc.gov.uk

ros.hathorn@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

I think if the clerk does not receive emails there is no chance of any action in the near future to address parking issues so encourage those with views about the parking to communicate directly with the clerk and to repeat this during the period 10 July – 24 July.