Traps Hill parking

As soon as commuters started to park on the north side of Traps Hill, turning it into a one-way street, LRA has been pressing the County Council to introduce restrictions. LRA County Cllr Chris Pond and LRA Chairman David Linnell met a County Highways Officer on site in January 2010, as a result of which the proposals were redrawn to meet the situation properly. 
Yellow lines have finally appeared! The double-yellows at the bottom of the hill are effective immediately. Technically, the single yellow lines higher up have no legal effect until the accompanying signs appear – but we hope they will discourage parking anyway.
Our intention has been to get back to the situation before two-sided parking started, with vehicles parked down the south side only, but with a stretch above the entrance to the Health Centre (and opposite Eleven Acre Rise) protected from parking.

We had also asked for the south-bound Library bus-stop to be protected from parking (this comes under different rules). Following complaints from residents of cars parked so as to make it impossible for infirm people to leave buses at this stop, LRA Cllr Chris Pond has again raised this with County Highways. Work to prevent parking here is "on the list", but funds have run out. They hope money may become available (January/February 2011), but of course in the present financial climate these things are very uncertain. Chris has also asked again for the restriction to be 7am-7pm every day, not just weekdays, because of the well-known problem in Traps Hill on Sundays. At least the procedures involved should take a lot less time than getting the Traps Hill yellow lines (once funds are available).

Chris’s continuing pressure for action, which included taking the case to the top of the County hierarchy, has finally paid off.
As an added bonus, the road has been completely re-surfaced - we know that this caused short-term problems, but we hope it has been worth it!