Parking permit backlash sees proposals scrapped

The proposals, which would have affected 2,000 properties in the Bloomfield area, had been under consideration by Blackpool Council for more than two years – but was overwhelmingly dismissed by people living nearby.

Council bosses decided to halt the plan after a formal consultation showed that more than 90 per cent of hoteliers and 75 per cent of households objected to the plans.

The process had been dogged by low levels of participation during the consultation process.

Leaflets were sent to every property in the area on three separate occasions, after local meetings attracted lower levels of attendance than expected.

While the informal part of the consultation showed a majority in favour of the scheme, the statutory consultation, which itself prompted only around a hundred responses, returned a result resoundingly against the changes.

The council says issues were raised about access and traffic movement, as the plan also included a new one-way system.

Terry Porter, owner of Norfolk House hotel on St Chad’s Road, which would have been affected by the plans, said: “The plans would have been a bad thing for the hotels because your guests wouldn’t be able to park on the street.

“It wouldn’t affect our hotel because we have our own car park, but it wouldn’t help my neighbours.

“It would cause a lot of animosity.”

A spokesman for the By The Sea hotel on St Chad’s Road said: “We’re fairly pleased with the results. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the roads as they are.

“We get a lot of traffic going down out street the wrong way as it is, so we don’t need any more confusion.

“The roads as they are work very well for me. Guests understand they need to either find a place to park on the road or find a car park.

“There’s no need to make things more complicated.”

Residents on five roads which did support the idea – Crystal Road, Shaw Road, Kirby Road, Lonsdale Road and Miller Street – will now be consulted about incorporating them into a wider permit scheme which is already in operation nearby.

Coun Fred Jackson, portfolio holder for environmental services and highways, said: “The decision not to progress with the wider Bloomfield residents parking scheme is a result of feedback from the informal and formal parts of the consultation process.

“We have listened to residents and made a decision based on their feedback not to introduce an extended parking permit scheme.

“All hotels and businesses that provided feedback objected to the scheme with more than 75 per cent of residents also objecting to the parking permit proposals put forward.

“There has been support for a smaller scheme to include the streets in the wider Lytham Road residents parking scheme and a consultation will now take place with the residents on each road.”