A Year on the Terrace - Annual Review 2014.

This year, the South Terrace Residents' blog has seen 15 posts and coincidentally, 15 comments on them.




In January, there were two posts relating to the Persimmon development, in particular their application for amended planning permission.



In April, we ran a feature on the back lane and fly tipping,

successfully sorted by Street Scene as a result of our intervention.


Our May posting concerned Local Motion who visited the terrace, featuring a great photo of John at no 13 and Basil at no 12.

Also in May in relation to the pocket park we posted a concept and our preparation at the site, with a visit from the Mayor.



June saw 4 posts relating to the park - the big dig, preparation for the big plant, the planting day, and nearly the finale.

In August we celebrated the opening of the park by the Mayor, Councillor Gerald Lee. If you missed this posting, do return to view it and taste the summer air.








October was devoted to the introduction of the new wheeled bins  with two postings - a sad saga of dissatisfaction and the council's response and subsequent apology to residents. It was noticeable how quickly the council will act when a cohesive group of residents such as ours, protests.

In November we reviewed the history of the Gerald Lee Pocket Park from start to finish

 capturing both old, new and missed photographs and videos. Do take a look and follow the links for the fresh material, some of which was not available in the earlier postings.




Finally, this month, our consultation on parking

in preparation for next month's interface with the council. Probably our most important posting which we have now lodged with the council officials with the hope of influencing decisions that relate to our parking on our terrace.





During the year, we have said goodbye to Harry and Heather at number 17 following their move to sheltered accommodation at Dalkeith House, Helen's arrival at no 5, we have seen the new development rise on the old football field, and witness the opening of the restored social facility and bar at the Cricket Club.

Throughout 2014, our South Terrace Residents Facebook Group has continued to support, inform and entertain its 28 members.

If you are not yet a member of that group, it is simple to join and provides much needed continuity for the terrace.

On behalf of all of the residents here, we wish you a happy New Year and a successful 2015. The first three months will be quiet here, but we hope that April will see new ventures, including a further Big Spring Clean.

In the meantime, here is an extract from Councillor Gerald Lee's open letter -

"Good afternoon everyone,

I hope that you all have had an enjoyable Christmas and I wish you well for 2015.

Time is quickly drawing nigh when the 2015 LitterFreeDurham's 2015 big Spring Clean starts which is February 28th and ends 18th April. I hope that you can join us once again and support this worthy Project to help keep our northern communities clean".

Consultation on Parking - January 2015

On 5 November 2014, Brenda Bowles, Engineer Traffic Management for Darlington Borough Council emailed Stephanie and me to say,

"I have been passed your enquiries regards introducing extra resident parking bays in South Terrace.

We do already have this request on our list of requests. I am pleased to inform you that we are about to investigate all the requests we hold for extra resident bays in the Borough so we should be consulting every resident with a proposal by January. It is anticipated that any proposed new resident bays will be installed by Spring 2015.

The existing double yellow lines had to be re-instated following the work done by the developer, so that the lines comply with the traffic order. It is likely that some of these yellow lines could be removed to provide some extra resident bays. If these yellow lines had not been replaced cars would have parked across the dropped kerbs".

It is essential that South Terrace views are now heard and recorded by Darlington Borough Council.

Of course, we have the advantage of having already held our own South Terrace Residents consultation over the last 22 months. For your convenience, and that of the Parking Policy Officer at Darlington Council, I have copied a potted history of our consultations at the foot of this blog. This, however, is where we have reached -

The apparent consensus:

1. The 25 South Terrace households and 8 cottage residents insist that their views should be paramount when formulating parking arrangements here in South Terrace.
2. We have very limited parking here, making South Terrace a special case. South Terrace should be excluded from wider policy considerations relating to the town's provision for free on-street parking.
3. We currently have 30 spaces for 33 homes. 
4. Four new spaces can and should be created by adjusting the yellow line restrictions. They are: one free space at the south east end of the terrace (opposite nos 6&7) and three permit spaces at the south west side (opposite 8&9).
5. The justification for the above is that the pavement profiles have already been adjusted by the council to facilitate this.
6. This would increase total provision on the terrace to 34 spaces.
7. There are currently 19 spaces designated for residents with permits. This is insufficient.
8. 7 'free spaces' in the centre of the terrace should be reduced to 4, thus providing a further 3 permit spaces. 
9. The net effect would be:

• 30 current spaces increased to 34;
• 19 residents spaces increased to 25;
• 11 'free spaces' reduced to 9 (5 opposite nos 1-7), 4 centre terrace.

Effect of consensus:

Residents would have parking priority.

There would be 6 more spaces for permit holders.

There would be 9 'free spaces' available for visitors. 

Three new spaces for residents opposite nos 8-10

 

One new space opposite nos 6 & 7

___________________________________

Potted history of the debate about parking here at South Terrace has progressed collaboratively. 

Our first residents' consultation followed my blog here on 12 February 2013,

"We have a limited number of 'free spaces' that seem to be taken quickly each morning by non-residents who work in the town centre. Some apparently arrive and wait for a resident to leave so that they can park... I recognise that this comes at a price to residents, especially those expecting workmen or other visitors. I would like your suggestions as to how (if at all) this matter should be handled? Feel free to leave a comment at the foot of this posting if you have a view on the matter".

On 22 February 2013 we followed this up with our report on parking. We recorded that we had "30 parking spaces, of which 19 require permits - 5 at the bottom of the terrace, 6 in the middle and 8 at the top. This left 4 free spaces at the bottom right of the terrace and 7 in the middle section". 

By 1 March 2013 we were able to put forward your suggestions.

"Most residents agree that the yellow lines opposite nos 9-10 should, if possible, be reduced to give another two parking spaces.... If shortening the yellow lines is possible, another two residents' bays could appear overnight.

"It also seems to be agreed that the double yellow lines opposite nos 1-7 could be reduced to give the possibility of an extra space on the right side of the terrace..."

"Most residents seem to want to keep some 'free spaces' on the terrace. Their argument is that if all of the spaces are allocate or restricted to 'permit only' - family, friends and other visitors will be unable to park here at all. They are right, and it seems imperative that we retain some unallocated parking.
The question is - how many spaces should be for permits, and how many 'free'? The majority of you seem to think that the seven spaces in the centre of the terrace could be reduced to four; and all 4 of the spaces opposite nos 1-7 could be made permit only.
The net effect of this would be to increase the permit spaces to 26, leaving 4 'free' spaces in the centre of the terrace. If the yellow lines were decreased, the permit spaces would increase to 28. Bearing in mind that there are 25 households on the terrace and a further 8 at Pease Cottages, this would be about right".

 

Our next blog was on 16 July 2013 where we reported your two main concerns - that there were insufficient residents spaces for the number of permits issued; and that we face a large influx of non-residents who choose to park on South Terrace, rather than paying for parking across Victoria Road in the Town Hall or Beaumont Street car parks.

"Having paid for the privilege of parking, residents said that they should be afforded a space - and the current level of residents' spaces meant that those who paid were in effect subsidising the parking of those who enjoy a resource here without paying for it". "The consensus was that the scheme did bring benefits to the terrace - but that it needed adjusting".

This precipitated our letter to Paul Boyle,

"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. 

1.          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.

2.          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 ..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".

 On 23 September 2014 representatives from nos 6 and 8 South Terrace attended the council's parking consultation to pass on your concerns. 

We informed the council that the principal issues were that commuters enter the terrace after 8.00 am and stay until 5.30 pm for free parking. This puts pressure on the residents bays, and eliminates any chance of our visitors and tradespeople parking on the terrace. We said that we want more residents' spaces and better control over non-residents spaces.

Owen Wilson, Principal Policy Officer indicated that he understood both our concerns and our solutions, and that these would be reflected in the new policy.