Kingsway Villagers

12 Responses to “Yellow Lines and Parking Issues in Kingsway”

1. barker77 Says:
   October 3rd, 2012 at 7:23 pm

   I think the yellow lines should stay along the whole of Thatcham Avenue. Before the lines were painted the road was dangerous with people parking on both sides of the roads, children were playing between the cars often unable to see oncoming traffic.
   Now the lines are painted traffic flows much better, cars don’t appear to be speeding on the whole, and it allows a hugely improved view around corners etc, which were previously extremely dangerous and were in effect blind corners.
   With the above said I believe that in other areas of Kingsway where possible large bits of pavement and or green(s) could be made slightly smaller to accommodate additional parking.

2. Judge Says:
   October 8th, 2012 at 3:56 pm

   I also think the Yellow lines should be enforced with parking tickets.
   The traffic flow is now a lot easier with these yellow lines

3. alzzi Says:
   October 8th, 2012 at 9:57 pm

   Huge improvement in safety along Thatcham, now please enforce the law. The dangers of traffic backing onto the roundabout, the blind corners, children crossing between parked cars, trying to get out of Marham Drive and not being able to see are all gone… Keep the yellow lines they are brilliant.

4. G Note Says:
   October 9th, 2012 at 10:18 pm

   I have not witnessed an increase in people speeding along Thatcham Ave, I believe this road is a damn site safer with the yellow lines in place. I do not agree with any parking anywhere along this road, it is simply not wide enough to accommodate it.

5. Clive Says:
   October 10th, 2012 at 3:12 pm

   Hi Folks,

   Sorry I haven’t mentioned this before (my wife is still ill and I have been very preoccupied recently) but: Please be aware that there is another thread here, where you can give your opinions about the rights and wrongs of this issue (if you haven’t already done so).

   In this thread you are (specifically) asked:

   "The County Council is not convinced at this stage that all of the new yellow lines are necessary to ensure the bus service can travel safely around the village. We would welcome your comments on this."

   and:

   "In addition to the above, the County Council is aware of the parking problems in Kingsway Village at the moment. We’re keen to work with residents and QUVL to see where we can create additional parking.
   One recent suggestion from a resident was to allow parking partially on the pavements, where they are wide enough to safely accomodate a parked car and people walking, especially those with pushchairs and those with a disability. We’ve looked into this and there may be areas where it’s possible if residents are supportive. It would be useful if you could give your thoughts on this."

   You are of course entitled to give any (constructive) comments about ways to solve the parking issues in Kingsway, otherwise please restrict your feedback to answering these two specific questions, and thank you for your contributions thus far.

6. alzzi Says:
   October 15th, 2012 at 9:28 pm

   At no point does the letter suggest that our comments and feedback should be restricted in the way Clive suggests. The points made about the safety of the road are legitimate and is exactly the kind of feedback the Council should be getting. The safety the yellow lines bring of course apply to the buses that use the road too!
   I would respectfully ask that these comments are passed on as “We would also like to stress that this does not mean you can’t give us your views on the yellow lines now.” suggests rather than being censored.

7. cucco Says:
   October 15th, 2012 at 10:50 pm

   “The County Council is not convinced at this stage that all of the new yellow lines are necessary to ensure the bus service can travel safely around the village”… ‘though no reasons given to say why they’re not convinced. Well one reason that I’m convinced that the yellow lines should stay is that when I drive on Thatcham Ave’ etc it’s much easier to drive along without thinking ‘hope nothing comes around the bend whilst I’m on the other side of the road’!

   Pay them a few quid they would soon disappear… Whoops! The yellow lines, not the Council that is - (Naughty)!

   Regards parking, how about allowing parking on sections of the bus route in the evenings when the bus service has finished?

   ‘Allow parking partially on the pavements, where they are wide enough’ - this idea sends the wrong message regards pavements- as some folk will think it is OK to park on pavements regardless of width which it is not. How about altering the pavements if that idea is one to be considered?

   All in all keep the yellow lines to keep the traffic and bus route flowing. What could be simpler?
   ‘Though some folk just want to park outside their house regardless of the obstruction and danger it may cause.

   Finally hope the Council listen to the public on this one, not like the incinerator where public opinion was listened to and ignored!

8. Barry Kirby Says:
   October 16th, 2012 at 9:58 am

   Just to clarify, while the letter does ask for comment via the RA on the alternative ideas, I will be passing on any and all the comments and submissions I receive, regardless of how they are put forward. I will take all the ones from this site, as well as the others I have received from people via Facebook, Email, letter and face to face discussion.

   To many people who want to see variation, I am asking that you have a think about a “pro active” solution such as the evening parking mentioned by Cucco above. This so far, being implemented by a single yellow line, is a popular suggestion.

   However, I would suggest that you not only look at submitting your comments here, but to write to the County Council, as laid out in the the letter, to ensure you get your point across in exactly the way you want it to be submitted.

   Don’t forget, this feedback is ongoing into next year, so there is time to see how it all beds in and how it works in the longer term.

   Cheers

   Barry

9. Clive Says:
   October 16th, 2012 at 11:09 am

   Hi alzzi,

   I agree with your general point and I have no problem with your suggestion. I am not censoring comments about the questions in hand (nor about safety issues connected with them), I am merely trying to stop the constant trolling which surrounds this issue every time we have a discussion about parking:

   The Council has clearly stated: "the County Council is aware of the parking problems in Kingsway Village at the moment", so there is NO point in folks keep saying that “extra parking is not necessary” or “should not be necessary” - the insinuation (in fact sometimes not insinuation but clearly stated) being that folks who have houses with insufficient parking spaces are stupid for getting into that situation! In addition the repeated sarcastic comments about how amazing it is that folks have found somewhere to park despite the lines being back is pointless (of course they have had to find somewhere else to park… doesn’t mean they aren’t still causing a hazard). Finally the old “if everyone used their garages there wouldn’t be a problem”… is once again not true (although it would certainly help), mostly because not everyone has a garage, and also because you cannot force those who do to use them! So the statement that no more parking is needed because of the unused garages is also redundant and pointless.
   These type of comments (repeated ad-infinitum in so many discussions in the past), have deterred people from posting in support of extra parking and that is both unfortunate and unfair; in the case of this thread it is irrelevant to the conversation (given the Council’s stated acknowledgement that there is a parking problem), and is nothing more than trolling, and as such I will simply not allow it. Other than that - and anything completely off-topic - I have not and will not be "censoring" anything here.

   You can of course submit your comments directly to the Council as advised by Barry - which is why I gave all the necessary contact details in the above post.

10. Clive Says:
    October 16th, 2012 at 11:15 am

    My personal opinion is that there is absolutely no need for double-yellow lines throughout the village as is currently the case. Whilst there are many roads and areas where lines are necessary, it’s clear that there are also many areas where parking could be allowed without compromising the safety of traffic and/or pedestrians.

    I live on the first stretch of Thatcham Avenue and I am 100% certain that the lack of parked cars has increased the speed of traffic on this stretch of road, (particularly after 7pm), as is evidenced by the 2 RTA’s, multiple near misses and one dead cat within the last 2 months. Whilst much of Thatcham Avenue is very tight and twisty, this stretch is not, and some (limited) parking spaces would cause very little delay, provide some much needed additional parking and help to slow the traffic.

    The same is true of Valley Gardens, particularly on the approach to -and near to the School and the Childrens Centre, where cars have parked (without incident) for 4+ years now (without blocking the bus lane). Parents are currently forced to either park illegally, or to drive to the far end of Thatcham Avenue in order to park their cars legally whilst taking children to school in wet weather; thus creating needless extra traffic on Thatcham Avenue during the busy morning pre-school period.

    Additional parking could be created alongside some of the green spaces on Thatcham Avenue (where the road could be widened to add parking areas) and the same is true on some of our other roads.

    I also agree that wide paved areas could be utilised to provide parking as suggested, ‘though I agree with Cucco that it should be done in a way that doesn’t encourage people to think that parking on pavements is OK in general.

    In my opinion the Council should ask Highways to review the lines with a view to adding parking spaces wherever they can safely do so without compromising the safety of pedestrians and traffic, and without creating unnecessary obstruction.

11. bgidley Says:
    October 17th, 2012 at 8:01 am

    I do agree with Clive’s point there is clearly a parking problem - however I would object to any proposal to eat into any of the green spaces on Kingsway. The green spaces are not ‘spare’ land but are in important part of our environment - there aren’t really that many given then volume of houses and they are one of the best design features of the ‘village’.

    There possibly are spaces parking could be facilitated - but we should try and keep our nicely landscaped areas!

    I would suggest you could allow parking in:
    - The ‘wasteland’ near the shops - in theory something may get built there but it is unclear what/when
    - Some of the turning areas/dead ends
    - I would also suggest marking the ‘visitors’ spaces planned in would encourage their use. They are often if you look at the plan close to people’s houses so people may be reluctant to use them.

12. Clive Says:
    October 17th, 2012 at 9:13 am

    Hi bgidley,

    Thanks for that addition… that’s a good point. I too love the green spaces here and don’t want to lose them (especially the major ones); adding parking alongside some of them would be a “last resort”, and I would prefer that the majority weren’t affected wherever possible (particularly those designed for “public use”).

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