Residents’ concern over parking permit scheme

A RESIDENTS’ group in the Trinity area of Frome have held a public meeting at Frome Town Hall with town and county councillors on Monday 24th October, to discuss a potential parking scheme that would see parking restrictions installed in the area.  

Following a permit scheme that has been put in place by Somerset Council on Weymouth Road which has been highlighted by residents as impacting the surrounding roads, residents in the Trinity area have also been sent letters asking them to sign up for a similar scheme, raising questions among the community as to whether this will be an effective solution.   

Residents say that unlike Weymouth Road, the roads in the Trinity area of Frome are narrower and most houses don’t have access to private off-road parking.  

Sharing concern about the possible introduction of parking permits, one resident in the Trinity area said, “The parking problems are mainly in the evening when people return from work, so I don’t understand how a residents’ scheme is going to help with that. It would make sense to put a halt to the Weymouth Road scheme and for the Badcox car park to be free again for residents, as it used to be.”  

Parking nightmare

Speaking about the impact introducing parking permits would have on the parking situation, a resident of Catherine Street said, “The parking [on the high street] has been a nightmare since Weymouth Road [restrictions came in] you just can’t park, I park on my road about once a week, probably. If they bring regulations in, you are going to lose about six or seven spaces straight away from my street and it’s going to make the problem worse.”  

The residents’ group say the restrictions imposed on Weymouth Road have caused an increase in parking issues in surrounding roads. Echoing concern about the impact parking permits would have on parking in the Trinity area, the residents’ group said, “Although some people may believe that paying for a resident’s permit will guarantee them parking, this is not the case. In fact, the introduction of yellow lines will reduce the available parking, and people will pay for the privilege of fighting over the remaining spaces (permits are currently priced at £60 for the first car, and £100 for the second car, and £60 for a visitors’ permit). 

School times

Not all residents in the Trinity area feel the parking is causing big issues. One resident from Trinity Walk said, “Living in the heart of this, it is not a big issue, the only issue is school times when they rock up, drop the little ones off, go up to the school, then they’re back within 10 minutes and they’re gone. The only thing I think we should do is put a few more yellow lines across drop curbs and corners.” 

Another resident from Selwood Garden also does not feel the issue needs to be addressed in this area and that causing an additional cost to people is unhelpful. She said, “One of our main points is that there really isn’t a problem with parking; there is absolutely no need to bring in a parking permit scheme where we live. 

“You can always park somewhere, sure you can’t park directly right outside your house, most people don’t care. It’s already a deprived area, so imposing an extra cost for people in a cost of living crisis when it’s not needed is not the way forward.” 

The residents’ group are calling for a town-wide parking review to begin across the whole of Frome, to explore solutions to make parking easier and more accessible. As well as this, parking is to fall under the remit of a unitary, Somerset Council, by March 2023. 

Town wide review

A member of the residents’ group, Marina said, “We need a town-wide parking review and frankly there are so many other ways to control traffic, other than permit schemes.”  

Responding to the thoughts of the residents, Somerset County councillor Martin Dimery said, “I think there was a mistake in the first instance that the county council did not go through with the parking review. We met with Steve Deakin, parking officer for Somerset County Council, and we have hopefully persuaded him that we must bring forward that review. 

“It has been hanging around and maybe Covid was the reason it did not happen. We have issues anyway with Mendip running car parks and Somerset County Council running roads. These will eventually be run by the same organisation. What I would say is to echo the point about Weymouth Road, it was introduced with what was thought to be was the best interest. That may have been a mistake. I can’t see it would be logical to proceed with the Trinity area having parking permits in there as things stand. We have to have a parking review. Please do respond to the review if you object to it strongly, you must make it known.” 

Frome Town councillor, Polly Lamb, who is the town councillor for Park ward, which includes Weymouth Road said, “We did meet with Steve Deakin and we highlighted that this is mainly a town-wide issue and that you can’t deal with one road at a time. There are plans that should bring these things together and it’s really important that they are considered.” 

Steve Deakin will be attending a Frome Town Council meeting on 16th November to discuss the proposals in place.