Comments on: Ely’s New Parking Regulations

By: Tommy

Tommy — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 17:29:14 +0000

It’s quite funny how if the council listened to the people we would find it very strange. What a place we live in!

By: P Coles

P Coles — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:18:09 +0000

This is the only Town or City that I know gives shop workers parking permits and residents parking tickets! Most councils give residents parking permits. We pay our council taxes, give us (residents) and the workers a permit!!!

Last Thursday - being market day - the number of spaces in the Barton road car park empty would surprise you, this is because people will not come in to park because of the thought of getting a £30 ticket, its time this council was given it’s orders to march.

By: J Chapman

J Chapman — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 11:16:58 +0000

I have just received an application form from ECDC for an annual parking season ticket…what passes for brains with these people? although I think from the comments of Cllr Petts the answer is very little.

The Council have spent £1 million of “our” money “building” a car park, that in itself is absolutely ridiculous,is it gold plated? is it multi-story? is it undercover? NO but then they to try and cynically pass it off as Park and Ride, THIS IS ELY FOR GOODNESS SAKE NOT CAMBRIDGE, as it is you have to walk halfway to town to get the bloomin’ bus and it only operates on a Saturday!!!

Let’s hear the truth, they built a car park to try and cash in on the commuters (commuters are taxpayers by the way) then they cynically set the price at ~70% of the already ridiculously high rip-off charges of the train car-park operator (nothing to do with the rip-off rail company); then they don’t have the brains to think of offering a season ticket until petitioned by users, AND NOW instead of offering the price at the ~70% rate, (the rip off merchants charge £527pa, by the way) this shower of a council want £506pa !!!! It’s not even the most convenient of car parks, it has no direct path to the train station, it’s a route march along a busy stretch of road, across a busy junction between 2 roundabouts and then across Tesco car park. GET A GRIP …The price should be at the very worst £370pa at your already ridiculously over-inflated prices , change this now.

By: Liz

Liz — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:45:45 +0000

I use Barton Road a lot and what worries me most about the new regulations is because they have no ticket machines there is no way of proving how long you have been in the car park if you get a parking ticket (of which I have seen a *lot* of on cars in the evenings). It’s just your word against theirs and I’m assuming they are going to believe the ticketing agents over the motorist.

They should just get on with it and charge for parking like everywhere else in the country and build a multi-story car park at one of the car parks. In Newmarket the first 30 mins is free and then it’s 30p for 2 hours - just do the same in Ely.

I also think they should let the residents have parking permits. The current council stance is disgusting. They have been outrageous making light of and ignoring the view of the reisdents who pay for their wages. Also they should let the workers have a cut price parking permit, which is common practice everywhere else.

By: P Coles

P Coles — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 12:20:42 +0000

I do not think people would mind a small charge for a parking permit to park all day long on Barton road, the alternative would be to dig up all car parks in the City area of Ely and build more houses so more cars can block the roads in the city to bring traffic to a stand still.

Why should workers that do not pay any tax towards Ely’s upkeep get FREE parking? The council members should come out of their little glass offices an talk to the people! We cannot wait 6 months to see if the council will change it’s small mind about parking permits for local people…

I CALL ON ALL PEOPLE IN SILVER STREET AND PARADE LANE ON SUNDAY FEB 3RD TO PARK OUTSIDE THEIR HOUSE IN THE ROAD TO SHOW WHAT HAPPENS!

By: Tommy

Tommy — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:49:36 +0000

Our tax paid money has brought this car park!!!!!!! That’s all I have to say. Get some young minded people in the council with new ideas!

By: Helen Wright

Helen Wright — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:06:30 +0000

While I think that all comments made have some validity. Lets remember, when ever you enter of town/city, wherever it may be, you will be making use of their facilities. No council can provide these facilities totally free of charge, all of the time. The local tax payers of Ely are paying a small fortune for the opportunity to live in Ely and provide an environment suitable for all. I have noticed (as a new resident) that most car parks are free, we don’t have to pay to use the loos (which are always beautifully clean, the streets are always free from rubbish, you even get free fresh black bags ready for the next weeks collection and down by the waterfront - I can see that a lot of work goes into keeping this nice for visitors to make use of - FREE OF CHARGE. I think that we should step back a bit, stop moaning about having to pay a small charge for the privilege of parking. Some towns/cities charge stupid inflated prices for parking, cambridge for example. May be more effort would be better spent being grateful for what we have got, rather than moaning about it.

By: Annie Gray

Annie Gray — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:38:41 +0000

I think that Peter Cousins’ last remark is one which deserves more attention. While the ongoing debate on parking charges rumbles on, much of the congestion is caused by people living on the outskirts of Ely who could quite easily cycle or walk in (thereby helping their health at the same time). Most of the new houses currently built have one or two off road parking spaces (which does not stop on-road parking in the least) and therefore ample space to leave their cars and no real need to drive into the city centre. More could potentially be done to encourage wise car-use - the carrot rather than the stick as it were. For example cycle lanes and off-road routes around the dangerous points (the Gallery/Silver Street spring to mind) would help. I do not think Ely is too crowded, as long as any further expansion happens in line with infrastructure changes as required. It would be a shame if it were to lose its distinctive character as a small town (hello starbucks), so I am supportive of anything which encourages new - independent - businesses to flourish in what remains an attractive city centre. As Cllr. Petts remarks, there will always be those who are unhappy, but that’s life.

By: Peter Cousins

Peter Cousins — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:21:12 +0000

I’m just a little disappointed that the professional people who we vote for and employ to be spokespeople for the publics interests, can only debate very childishly as displayed on this message board. I have not heard anyone as yet in support of the new parking regulations. Therefore are the council there to support the public opinion or their own single minded schemes? I have nothing against a council trying to do the best for their constituency, but if the constituency aren’t happy with what their councillors are doing, then what are they there for? Now obviously, a simple message board on a city website doesn’t give a detailed overview of public opinion, but I’d like to see how many people - Ely citizens or otherwise - are happy with these decisions. Basically my original point was that I am now driving to Cambridge to commute instead of using services in Ely. It’s no major inconvenience to me, but if I, one commuter from Soham, is doing that, then how many other people are now ignoring public transport and Ely? One moment pollution and saving the world is everyone’s responsibility, next, Ely’s too crowded for the next lot of houses we’re building, so forget the last thing everyone’s money went into, we need to make sure there’s enough parking for everyone in Ely who could reasonably cycle or walk into the centre.

By: Karl Bedingfield

Karl Bedingfield — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 13:52:09 +0000

Personally, I think the people who came up with the parking regulations forgot to consider the impact the morning parking restrictions would have on house owners who do not have a without a drive-way or lock-up.

Remember this is the same Council that are up in arms about the proposed development at Mereham but I don’t recall the same condemnation about the 1000’s of houses that now clog the outskirts of Ely adding to the congestion we are now discussing.

Unfortunately it is always too little, too late with ECDC.