On which roads should cars be allowed to park on the pavements -- carefully?

I received this e-mail from the Council about plans to clamp down on dangerous and problematic pavement parking -- which we have been campaigning on for a while now -- asking which roads in Park Ward should be exempted, and careful pavement parking should be allowed to continue. As residents what do you think?

Dear Councillor

Reading Borough Council, at Cabinet in July and at TMAP (Traffic Management Advisory Panel) in September, decided to progress a borough wide footway and verge parking prohibition. This will mean that all footway and verge parking is illegal and subject to the same penalty notice and process as those vehicles that park on yellow lines.

Officers are progressing that decision and the restriction is expected to be in place by early 2011. However the lead Councillor, Richard Willis, has asked that two measures are incorporated into the introduction of the restriction and they are:-

1) That for a 2 week period before the official commencement of the restriction, vehicles parked on footways and verges will receive a warning notice in the form of a standard letter in a parking ticket holder and placed on the windscreen of vehicles as with current parking penalty ticket issues.

2) That a small number of roads within the borough where no alternative parking is available will be exempt from the prohibition.

It is in connection with the second measure that I am writing to you as the ward Councillor to seek your suggestions as to which, if any, roads in your ward should be exempt from the footway and verge parking prohibition.

If you could let me know the roads that you feel should be considered in this measure, officers will then review the suggestions and report to the lead Councillor with the suggested roads and an officer recommendation on whether technical and physical evidence supports their exemption.

An exemption will only be considered if:-

· There is no off-street parking available
· The road is too narrow to safely allow vehicles to park fully on-street.
· Current highway rules (size of vehicle etc) will be followed – There are a number of types of vehicle that cannot be parked on the public highway, such as HGV’s, and the drivers are required to be aware of their vehicle class and the restrictions relating to it and not leave their vehicle on the public highway.
· The exemption does not impact on other restrictions already in place.

Once the lead Councillor has reviewed the requests and recommendations we will report back to ward Councillors on the proposed list of roads, which when finalised will be reported to TMAP in November 2010 or January 2011 for confirmation.

I would be grateful if you could let me know by the 18th October of any roads you wish to be considered within this measure.

Pat Baxter