Councillor leads action to combat car parking nightmare

A campaigning councillor is leading moves to resolve a car parking nightmare for residents in the Trafalgar Road area of Southport.

Cllr David Barton said the situation had become worse over the Christmas period, with the parking particularly bad at the Oxford Road junction with Trafalgar Road and York Road.

He said cars are regularly parked on either side of the road leading to visibility issues when entering and exiting the junction.

The area is close to the Smedley Hydropathic Centre, formerly Her Majesty’s Royal Passport Office and a hotel which is currently the home of the General Register Office for England and Wales.

Cllr Barton, who represents Dukes Ward on Sefton Council, has now held talks with bosses at the building to try and ensure staff park considerately to help alleviate the problem.

Cllr Barton said: “There have been a wide range of issues, including blocked driveways, parking on pavements leading to mobility difficulties for senior citizens and young mothers with prams, difficulties for emergency vehicles and doctors and cars parked up to the corners of the street, compounded further by speeding cars at junctions.

“I recently conducted a community consultation with concerned residents across the area and have managed to collate feedback from over 100 residents, who have spoken of the varying issues.”

He said that whilst there has been a small increase in staff working at the former Smedley Hydropathic Centre it does not charge the staff to park in its car park.

Proposals to reduce the incidence of staff parking across the Birkdale area have been put forward including a potential Park & Ride and increased encouragement to utilise the nearby Southport & Birkdale Cricket Club car park.

Costings for the Park & Ride are presently being investigated.

Cllr Barton said: “Whilst on a guided tour of the complex it was noted that the existing car parking grounds are fully utilised but as staff tend to start early and finish early at 3:30pm, some may have difficulty around 9:30am which has led to overspill across surrounding roads.

“However centre representatives are welcome to any and all suggestions to further improve this wherever feasible.

“It is sending out additional internal communications this week to notify staff to park as considerately as possible at my request.

“There are over 200 car parking spaces altogether on site and the Oxford Road/ York Road/ Trafalgar Road crossroads junction shall be monitored with the support of neighbours and feedback from the community.

“I have now been invited back to attend a secondary meeting to hear from staff at the Smedley Centre to incorporate their feedback into achieving the best possible car parking arrangements as possible for all concerned.”