More concern has been expressed by a number of people about the new parking arrangements in Sudbury.
What has now become very clear is that there is NOT ENOUGH LONG TERM CAR PARKING TO COPE WITH DEMAND.
Because parking arrangements in Sudbury were very imperfectly policed in the past people got used to overstaying in the short term car parks unchallenged and untroubled by fines. The recent arrival of the machines and the enforcer mean that this is no longer possible. Now all the long term spaces get completely filled by 9 a.m., and of course since they are 'long term', it is rare that they get unblocked much before the early afternoon.
This is of particular anxiety to those who take trains from Sudbury’s railway station at any time after 9 a.m. There have been examples of people having to pay £15 fines because they simply could not find a space and catch their train on time, making a trip to London or Colchester an expensive business. This does not seem right.
For those of us who engage in activities which involve spending more than three hours in Sudbury at a stretch the situation is also exasperating, but at least not expensive. When I work on editing On the House, the newsletter of Gainsborough’s House, I have to break off towards the end of a three hour period and then drive around the town looking for somewhere else to park (really good for the environment and for traffic flows!). Volunteer schedules at the House have had to be altered as well, making life much more complicated and resulting in a need for more precious ‘vols’.
Perhaps a four hour limit, as in Bury St Edmunds, would be a more appropriate time-limit for the short term car parks? Three hours is really not very long.
I know that a number of people have made representations to Babergh about these issues, and I have mentioned them myself both to officers and to fellow Conservatives. At present however there is little sign of any rapid response to what has emerged as a real inconvenience for many.
I notice in the budget for the coming year (which is to be finally agreed at the Council Meeting tomorrow) we have been very quick to work out how much revenue we will be receiving from parking fines in the year to come. We are not being very speedy however in addressing some of the unintended consequences that have resulted from more energetic policing of parking restrictions in the town.
