September update on the terrace

New residents
We welcome our new residents to numbers 3 and 21. Congratulations on your choice of homes at no 3 and no 21. We hope you will be very happy here at South Terrace. Can we encourage you to sign up for the South Terrace Facebook group - it is a great way to get to know others here, and to keep abreast of the news that affects our community. Note, South Terrace has its own Neighbourhood Watch group. At present, all households on the terrace are represented and you will automatically be included.


Parking
There has been a yawning silence from Traffic Management at Darlington Borough Council following our enquiry concerning residents' parking. Here is a copy of our letter dated 15 July 2013:

"Over the past six months, the residents have been engaged in discussions concerning parking in South Terrace. 

Currently there are 30 parking spaces on South Terrace, of which 19 are designated for residents permit parking - 5 at the east end of the terrace, 6 in the middle section, and 8 at the west side. This leaves 4 non-resident spaces on the east side of the terrace, and 7 in the middle section. 

Two issues have been detected. 
First, with 24 households and 8 cottages, and a number of households having more than one permit, there are insufficient residents parking spaces for the number of permits issued. Residents who now pay £40.00 per year to park in the vicinity of their home should be entitled to be able to access a parking space.
Second, substantial numbers of non-residents attend each morning to take non-resident spaces that have been vacated by residents. These spaces are then occupied for the rest of the working day, to the exclusion of both residents and their visitors.
The South Terrace Residents Group has formulated a solution.

Resident parking designation
Whilst residents want to keep some non-resident spaces on the terrace for non-resident parking, we request that the seven non-resident spaces in the centre of the terrace is reduced to four; and all four of the non-resident spaces opposite nos 1-7 are to be made residents permit only. 

Yellow line restrictions
Residents would wish that the yellow lines on the west side of the terrace opposite nos 9-10 should be reduced, to give another one or two extra parking spaces there, and on the east side of the terrace opposite nos 1-7 to give one extra space there. We are aware of the council's concerns about parking within certain distances of junctions, but the local wisdom is that this should not be a problem here. 

The net effect of changes:
Without yellow line alteration - to increase the permit spaces to 26, leaving 4 non-resident spaces in the centre of the terrace. 
With yellow line alteration - to increase the permit spaces to 28 or 29, leaving 4 non-resident spaces in the centre of the terrace".

It is unfortunate that Traffic Management has not even acknowledged our concerns. If no response is received before the end of the month, I will take the issue up with Councillor Harman. In the meantime, if you are free, do go along on Monday 23 September, 5 pm at the Dolphin Centre - Public consultation on Parking Strategy focusing on Residents Parking Zones. They definitely need feedback from us about the shortfalls of our South Terrace Zone D.

Esh Development and the Cricket Club
Residents will have noticed that Feethams South to the Twin Towers has been measured and marked. The plan is to alter the approach to the new road that will skirt the cricket pitch. I propose to invite Paul Nicholson, Senior Site Engineer employed by Lumsden & Carroll, Civil Engineering to Esh Developments, to post news updates on the blog, or the South Terrace Facebook page. 

Additionally, although no planning application has yet been posted, we understand that the Cricket Club is proposing to implement some development at the club building. If you have any news on this, let us know by posting here on the blog, on Facebook, or by email.