New parking restrictions will come to an Oxfordshire village despite fears about a loss in parking.
Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member for transport, Andrew Gant, gave the green light to plans for double yellow lines on various roads in Wheatley at a meeting on Thursday last week.
This comes in response to concerns raised some cars had been forced to mount the pavement due to “the old and narrow roads not being wide enough” to accommodate traffic alongside parked vehicles.
Mixed consultation responses to the proposals were offered by householders, with some objectors singling out the plan for restrictions on parts of Church Road.
Speaking out at the meeting, objector Simon Carr said: “The proposed changes for Church Road are basically wrong.
“The Church Road car park is heavily used.
“Local businesses are going to be affected as well as the offer of spaces in Church Road car park.
“This is going to remove up to 50 per cent of the spaces in the car park at any time.
“The Church Road carpark is heavily used.”
Church Road car park, Wheatley
A council spokesman added: “The proposals for Church Road address the main problem encountered by through traffic – that of parking on both sides and near or close to bus stops.
“Other traffic management measures might include physical measures to reduce speeds or a one-way street arrangement.
“The former would not remove the parking and the latter would impact on the routes used by buses in the banned direction and indeed other traffic, which could, in turn, displace problems to other parts of the road network.”
County council officers say restrictions on the High Street are only being implemented to enforce already-existing rules.
Liberal Democrat county councillor Tim Bearder, who represents Wheatley, said: “Over literally decades, the parking restrictions on the High Street had essentially been ignored.
“They weren’t ever enforced by the police.
“This whole process, which has been well over a year in the making, has been very consultative.
“I wholly support it.”
Mr Gant said: “We’re sometimes told we ignore consultation responses.
“We don’t.”
One resident of Church Road said: “The issues around the school leach into issues about the flow of traffic past The Sun.
“Introducing some restrictions at The Sun, perhaps moving more west-bound traffic down onto the west end of the High Street, would help to ease a very difficult situation which will not be helped by trying to restrict parking.
“Five-year-olds cannot be left to find their own way to a waiting mum driving around in circles in a car.
“Can’t there be some parking taken from the playing field, just for the school’s use?”
