The Frome Neighbourhood Parking Group has received backing from councillors from Frome Town Council and Somerset Council in their opposition to the parking restrictions on Weymouth Road, which have now been made permanent following a trial period.
The group has criticised the survey conducted by Somerset Council to gauge residents’ views on making the scheme permanent, highlighting inconsistencies in the number of residents surveyed and alleging skewed questions. One councillor called the report ‘statistically wrong and democratically not very fair.’
An 18-month trial of parking restrictions on Weymouth Road was introduced in 2022 following complaints from some residents about the road’s safety due to the volume of parked cars. Parking permits and meters were implemented as part of the trial. However, some residents reported that the permit scheme displaced parking issues onto surrounding streets, leading to increased competition for parking spaces.
Following the trial, a review was carried out by Somerset Council to seek the views of residents. The reports concluded that residents of Weymouth Road consider the road is better with the restrictions and support the scheme being made permanent but the majority of residents of the wider area around Weymouth Road indicated they do not support a parking scheme and say the situation has worsened since the trial was introduced.
The Frome Neighbourhood Parking Group, which had been campaigning to stop the Weymouth Road parking scheme going ahead, has criticised Somerset Council’s report saying residents’ concerns about safety and quality of life were ignored.
“Only 21 houses out of 62 on Weymouth Road support keeping the residents’ scheme. This is 34% of residents, which doesn’t meet the 60% required,” explained a member of the group, Beverly Shackleton-Jones. “Even if Somerset Council only decide to count 48 houses on Weymouth Road, the 21 houses who want to keep the scheme still only amount to 43.75%, which is still below the threshold required of 60%.”
The group has issued a complaint to the Ombudsman and at July’s full town council meeting, councillors agreed to support the residents with a letter to Somerset Council, following the outcome of their complaint.
Several councillors, including Liberal Democrat councillor for Somerset Council, Cllr Adam Boyden, have also agreed to provide input.
During that meeting, Nunney Road resident Rivka Fine spoke on behalf of the group, accusing Somerset Council of ‘fudging’ the figures in the report by consulting 62 properties initially but only 48 at the end of the scheme.
Cllr Mark Dorrington, who has been supporting residents with parking issues since his election in 2018, described Somerset Council’s report as ‘the worst written report’ he had seen in ages. He noted that the review included eight pages of emails from residents opposing the permanent implementation of the parking restrictions and questioned why these comments were not considered.
Urging the council to support the group, Cllr Nick Dove described the process and report as ‘statistically wrong and democratically not very fair.’ He added, “Surely, we should be able to support a strong pushback and say let’s do it fairly and use our newly elected Lib Dem MP to support this.”
Somerset Council said, “Somerset Council is aware of concerns about the Weymouth Road scheme. Following the recent Frome Town Council meeting we are discussing the matter with local members. Once a way forward has been identified we will respond to Frome Town Council to resolve this matter with both residents of Weymouth Road and others. We understand the matter has been referred to the Local Government Ombudsman and we await their response.”
