Plea for action on parking

Residents from Dells Lane, Mead End, Tennyson Avenue and surrounding roads packed out a meeting of Biggleswade Town Council’s off street car parking committee on Tuesday (February 12).

During a heated meeting residents demanded that yellow lines or permit schemes are introduced before careless parking leads to death or serious injury.

The roads are only a short walk from Biggleswade railway station, so are the preferred parking location for many who commute to and from London.

There are currently no restrictions in the roads and parking is free, unlike at the train station car park where drivers pay more than £4 a day.

Duncan Strachan said: “This is an extremely serious matter and something needs to be done immediately before someone is killed or seriously injured.”

Another member of the public who lives in Dells Lane said: “My 10-year-old son attends Holmemead Middle School and I’m very worried as you can hardly see around the cars when you cross the roads – he could easily be involved in an accident.”

Others said that thoughtless parking at the junctions of the roads is also making it difficult for emergency vehicles and dust carts to access the streets. Traffic is also regularly being brought to a standstill, they said.

But David Bowie, head of service – traffic management at Central Beds Council, who gave a presentation on parking at the meeting could not give any guarantees.

He said: “The problem we have is that I don’t have enough staff to patrol the streets very regularly, and if you don’t enforce parking restrictions properly then people just ignore them.

“If you paint double or single yellow lines on the roads then the commuters will just find other roads to park in.”

Mr Bowie agreed to write to Network Rail about the charges at the car park, and also to look at all possible options for the roads.

Committee chairman Madeline Russell said the town council is doing everything it can to provide more car parking in the town.