A Chorley County Councillor has called for common sense and respect for the safety of others to people parking their cars irresponsibly near schools or where there are parking restrictions in place – after continued problems in the villages he represents and elsewhere.
Cllr Andrew Snowden, who represents Hoghton with Wheelton, called for people to ‘show some respect for the safety of others, especially children’ when we recently spoke with him about the issues he has been dealing with.
He said “Ever since I was first elected I have been astounded by the amount of casework I have been doing around people parking outside schools in restricted areas, on double yellows and blocking driveways. I have first-hand witnessed near misses in Brinscall on School Lane and on Sandy Lane, have met angry residents in Clayton Brook whose driveways have been blocked and residents complaining of not being able to get prams and wheelchairs down pavements due to cars on them all over the area I represent – even where there are double yellows”
Lancashire County Council recently recognised the scale of the road and pedestrian safety issues facing many people and have written to head teachers across the County to inform them of parking enforcement activity that will take place outside schools. This is combined with initiatives announced to try and free up more resource for enforcement patrols.
Cllr Snowden said “It’s really sad that it has to get to the stage of enforcement. A lot of it is about common sense and having respect for other people’s safety. Double yellows are not used lightly, if they are there it’s because a Highways Officer has deemed there to be road safety or access issue if you park there – so don’t! I know that parking availability is a big issue in rural areas, but that’s because they are villages designed well before modern traffic was invited, there is little we can do other than be respectful to each other and make the best of it”.
The issues in some areas of Chorley were made worse over recent months when road resurfacing was undertaken and the County’s increased budget for highways works meant a more roads were being done and therefore a number of roads were left without marking over longer periods and made worse by bad weather.
He said “I appreciate people have had to put up with no road markings, but hopefully that will be worth it as the County Council starts to spend more money on road resurfacing – something I have been arguing they should do for years. There were some delays due to bad weather and in Brinscall in particular there was a delay between patching works being done and the protective layer being added”.
“Again, I was sad to see people causing obstruction by parking on sections of road they knew full well normally have double-yellows, but I am pleased to see the issue getting much better again. I’ll work with residents and parish Councils on any areas that continue to be a problem – and hopefully the message around common sense and looking out for the safety of other road users will get through”.