New Parking Strategy approved for Central Bedfordshire
Tuesday, 20 August 2019
Central Bedfordshire Council’s Executive has today (Tuesday, 20 August) approved the decision to adopt a revised parking strategy.
The strategy has been informed by a public consultation and aims to manage parking in Central Bedfordshire by supporting local businesses and allowing town centres to thrive, whilst also encouraging the use of sustainable transport options.
Parking is a real issue for lots of residents, everyone wants accessible parking as most people use or have access to a car, but often space is limited, and inconsiderate parking can cause road safety concerns.
To focus on how it can best support the management of parking, the council has set out nine key objectives. These focus on road safety, making Central Bedfordshire and its town centres as accessible to residents, businesses and visitors as possible, ensuring growth and prosperity and parking scheme management.
On the ground the strategy will involve looking at new and alternative ways of working including new technology options and the possibility of employing rapid response officers.
We will also introduce verge and footway parking enforcement, to tackle inconsiderate parking as this can cause road safety issues and obstruct emergency access.
Councillor Nigel Young, Executive Member for Highways Delivery and Innovation at the council, said:
Parking can impact on traffic flow, influence travel behaviour and affect the environment in which we live and work. In order to manage parking in Central Bedfordshire for the benefit of everyone we have developed this parking strategy. This gives us a framework and a suite of tools to address parking issues and lays out the parameters for preparing local strategies. It has been written to provide residents, visitors, shoppers and local businesses with information about our approach to managing parking and will look to influence travel behaviour by encouraging residents to use sustainable transport options. We employ a small team of people to manage parking across the whole council area, meaning that prioritisation for their work is essential. This strategy aims to identify the areas in which we will focus and offers clarity around how we make decisions around parking and enforcement.
The strategy will cover the next three years, when it will be superseded by a forthcoming wider review of local transport as part of a new local transport plan.