Car parking crisis in 2015

Anecdotal evidence indicates that the worsening problem of parking in Bourne is now keeping people away from the town centre unless on urgent and necessary business and sending them to shop elsewhere.

Difficulties in finding somewhere to leave the car while visiting the Post Office in West Street is a frequent complaint and so some residents living to the south of the town now go to Thurlby and in the north to Morton, both with busy sub-post offices and adjoining shops that have ample parking space immediately outside.

This may appear to be an insignificant example but it is one that typifies the whole because most people visiting Bourne for one purpose, in this case to do business at the Post Office, are likely to call elsewhere for other purchases which are lost to the town as a result while the bulk of household shopping is now done at either Sainsbury’s in Exeter Street or Tesco in South Road, both supermarkets with large and convenient car parks where it is practically unknown not to be able to find a space, even at the busiest times.

This is the tragedy for our town centre where small shops are struggling to survive yet the local authorities not only do nothing but even jeopardise the existing car parking availability by their policy of handing over public spaces for private use.

Bourne has a population of around 16,000 people with 500 public car parking spaces within the town centre area, either in designated parks or at the kerbside, which is clearly not enough because parking is becoming more difficult as some motorists insist on hogging places all day long to the detriment of shoppers and other occasional visitors, a situation that is destined to become worse as house building continues and the population increases yet the supply is not keeping pace with the demand.

Car parking in Bourne is the concern of South Kesteven District Council but does not appear to be among their priorities because in 2005 when the premises in Manning Road occupied by Johnson Brothers Ltd., the agricultural machinery specialists, became vacant and created the perfect opportunity to provide more spaces within easy reach of the town centre, nothing was done. The 1.3 acre site could not have been better placed for this purpose but no move was made to acquire the land for community use and it was eventually sold to make way for Browning Court, a three-storey complex of 45 apartments for elderly people, a development which would have been better sited at an out-of-town location and inevitably brought objections from tenants in Hereward Street that the new buildings were in the wrong place because they overshadowed their homes and shut out the light.

The parking problem has therefore been allowed to escalate to what we have today where spaces for shoppers and visitors to the town centre are hard to find. Many employers such as estate agents and banks provide their own parking space for staff but there are others that have none and so those who work at small offices or shops who mostly travel in by car are likely to snap up the available spaces before 9 am with the result that there is no use trying to park in the South Street or the Burghley Street car parks after that because they are full to capacity until late afternoon.

The shortage of spaces may also be the reason why cases of illegal parking are escalating with cars frequently left on double yellow lines in and around the town centre, often causing traffic jams, especially in North Street which in the absence of a bypass carries the main A15 through the town centre where one vehicle left in the wrong place can cause a lengthy and chaotic delay.

The situation has also been aggravated by the policy of South Kesteven District Council of giving away fourteen of the spaces in the Burghley Street car park to the buyers of the flats in the nearby Wherry’s Lane redevelopment scheme. This is particularly galling because the flats are being sold off to individual and investment buyers and these public car parking spaces were offered as an inducement to make a sale. In other words, private enterprise has taken precedence over the public service which the council is supposed to deliver to those who pay the council tax on which their existence depends.

The removal of fourteen public spaces comes at a time when parking in Bourne is reaching crisis proportions and several visits to the Burghley Street car park this week found many motorists in an angry mood at being unable to find a space, even for a brief shopping expedition or a visit to the bank, dentist, solicitor or estate agent. There are now only 81 spaces available in this car park for public use and 66 at the South Street car park with a further 53 in Abbey Road. The car park in the Burghley Centre has 166 spaces but here waiting time is restricted to two hours and so it is usually possible to find somewhere to park for a short period although there is often a long wait, especially on market days when some spaces are taken up by stalls.

The problem therefore is those who occupy car parking spaces all day to the detriment of shoppers and other visitors and it is this that now needs addressing by SKDC for unless something is done, the seven new shops just completed in Wherry’s Lane will get very little passing trade if and when they are occupied because this thoroughfare is the route used by motorists to reach the town centre and if there is no turnover of spaces in the Burghley Street car park then there will be fewer pedestrians going that way.

In the meantime, the spare land on the north side left over from the Wherry’s Lane redevelopment has also been lost to the town for the time being. Despite there being room for at least 100 cars, hopes that it may have been used to alleviate the current parking problem have been dashed because the area has been given over to grass and the council has indicated that the site has been reserved for further development at some indeterminate time in the future while in the meantime it stands idle. The entire area has also been enclosed by a low wooden fence and so we may walk past and admire this green open space but public involvement ends there because it will be used for nothing other than ornamentation.

The Wherry’s Lane development would have been far more viable had the complex of commercial buildings along south side been purchased and demolished to make way for the private car parking and thus avoid the constraints on the public spaces. This would also have given the entire development a much more satisfactory appearance whereas it now looks as though the new section has been wedged in to fit the available space.

Perhaps our local councillors might take up this issue as a combined operation on behalf of the town. We have six elected representatives who sit on South Kesteven District Council, including the mayor, all members of the town council, and so who could be better placed to seek a solution to this pressing problem although the prospects for such a concerted effort are not good because the subject of parking does not appear to have been mentioned in the discussions over the town council’s Neighbourhood Plan which are currently creating some attention in the local newspaper.

Yet when the original questionnaire was issued in a local trade magazine last summer, readers were asked to comment on housing, employment, leisure and shopping and which facilities they use, including town centre shops, sports and social facilities, recreation areas, restaurants, education and public houses, but the glaring omission was car parking on which all these other issues depend.

Both councillors and planners must remember that unless there is sufficient provision for visitors to leave their cars when they arrive to take advantage of the town’s facilities then they will not come again but go elsewhere. The objectives of the survey are quite clearly stated that the initiative for a Neighbourhood Plan must come from the community and if our representatives went out and about in Bourne and tested public reaction for themselves they would soon find how much discontent there is about this perpetual annoyance in finding somewhere to leave the car.

It is a difficult proposition to accept but parking restrictions throughout the town may be the only answer. There have been several attempts by the council to introduce a pay or time limit system in the past that have been thwarted by vigorous prevention campaigns and would probably do so again. But in the absence of further car parking spaces, some form of restriction is necessary in all of our main car parks to ensure a greater availability and deter motorists from leaving their vehicles there all day and so perhaps a short stay system with a two-hour limit similar to that in force in the car park in the Burghley Centre may be the best solution.

The town centre is meant for trade and leisure, not solely to provide a permanent car parking space for workers, and busy shops, offices, public houses and fast food outlets, require a constant turnover of visitors throughout the day. That ought to increase now that Wherry’s Lane and its arcade of new retail outlets has been added to the equation but they can only be regulated through a system of restricted parking which would induce a greater turnover of spaces that would benefit the entire town including both traders and shoppers.

Certainly, something must be done to end the present crisis which is deterring people from coming into town unless absolutely necessary and that cannot be good for business or for Bourne.

NOTE: This article was published by the Bourne web site
on Saturday 28th March 2015.

Return to Car parking