Press Release

Monday 14th January 2008

Portchester parking issues get aired

Around fifty residents attended the latest in the second round of Community Action Team meetings tonight. At the Portchester meeting, chaired by CATs Chairman, Councillor Nick Walker, residents received updates showing a 12.5% reduction in reported crimes in the Portchester area, and a presentation on fire safety from Hampshire Fire & Rescue.

 

The main topic of the evening was parking. Residents got the chance to identify hot spots, where parking on double yellow lines and grass verges were causing issues. They heard that since taking over parking enforcement in April 2007, Fareham Borough Council had regularly deployed parking attendants to the Portchester area. In total, over 230 hours had been spent in this area of the Borough and some 145 Penalty Charge Notices had been issued.

 

Chairman of the Portchester CATs, Councillor Nick Walker, said: “I wanted to ensure that residents had a real chance to voice their concerns, so decided to extend the meeting until all issues were raised. As a result all those present were to tell us about areas where parking was causing them a real problem. Some of these were no surprise to the officers present and others were new to them. I know that there can be problems with verge parking and we are sending parking attendants to the areas that are causing greatest concern.

 

“Equally there are many issues caused by parents parking close to schools in the morning and mid afternoon. Some of this parking is inconsiderate and I would urge all parents to think about where they are parking when dropping off or picking up. Better still, I would ask them to think about leaving the car at home and walk their children to school. Not only would this take cars off the road, but it would also encourage a healthier alternative.”

 

Ends

 

For further information contact:

Mel McKeown, Head of Communications,  tel: 01329 824507

fax: 01329 821518, e-mail: publicity@fareham.gov.uk