Published at 09:11, Monday, 02 July 2012

THE portrayal of the views of residents of the Cockshaw area of Hexham on the county council’s consultation on parking measures as ‘cock-eyed nonsense’ and ‘unanimously against it’ is silly (Courant, June 22).

This is not an adversarial process between the county council and Hexham residents, nor an opportunity for boring party political point scoring.

Consultation allows people such as the 120 who signed the petition against paying £15 for parking outside their own homes to be heard.

Also Eileen Elliott (Courant Letters, June 22) points out that changes in one area have knock-on consequences in other areas.

Where I live at the Cockshaw Burn end of Gilesgate there are valuable access points into the Sele First School, nursery, sheltered housing, the park and playgrounds. Parking for ‘residents parking permit holders only’ in this area would prevent all of those short-term parking requirements for other Hexham residents and visitors accessing the beautiful Abbey Grounds and surrounding park and playgrounds; as well as preventing business people from hogging the parking spaces all day to avoid parking charges while they go into town to work.

Unlike the Elvaston area, in Gilesgate there are few garages or driveways for residents to use for off-road parking. Currently, the parking regulation is inadequately, so that sometimes the road is completely blocked and pavements obstructed.

Please let us discuss how we can adapt and change to manage parking to make Hexham an even better place to live and work.

BARBARA GRUNDEY,

Hexham

Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk