‘Our estate has turned into a student car park’ - RESIDENTS of a housing estate opposite a Warrington college have had enough as parking wars descend on the road each day.
Nicola Bates, a resident on The Heath estate adjacent to Priestley College said problems with students parking and blocking drives has been an ongoing issue, but this last year has been ‘the worst they have known it’.
The 40-year-old recruiter told the Warrington Guardian she has lived on the estate off Loushers Lane for more than a decade, moving in when it was first built.
And the area has been used as a free space for students to park cars ever since.
“It’s a nightmare and we have put up with it for 10 years,” Nicola said. “They block me out of my drive. We have a double drive, and they block both of us in.
“It’s got worse in the past four years; it has been the worst year we have known it.”
Highlighting the measure of the issue, Nicola said the cars begin to appear when the doors of the college open at 8.45am. These cars block driveways, recycling bin access and often make it difficult for residents to leave the estate.
However, the parking feuds extend to longer than college opening hours, with Nicola adding that driving instructors will park there to pick students up for lessons after school and parents will park there to collect their children.
And when activities at the college run into the evening, the street can be busy late into the pm.
“A man from the fire service said they would not be able to get a fire engine down the road.
“It makes the street one way in, one way out. They are rude and they treat the street like a litter bin,” Nicola said.
In one particular instance, Nicola explained how several cars had been blocked in and a student ‘drove over one of the gardens’ to get out of the street.
As the parking problems are being reported as worse this year, resident’s speculations have circled around there being an increase in students travelling from another area to attend the college and so more cars being used than in previous years.
Nicola added that two members of staff who work at the college live on the estate and have said ‘they have seen the biggest influx of students from outside Warrington’.
Another resident who echoes the concerns of Nicola and other homeowners on The Heath is Brenden Mills.
Brenden detailed how he has gone to great lengths to try and find a solution to the parking chaos, owning his own home on the estate and being equally frustrated by his driveway being blocked.
The resident has reached out to local MP Andy Carter and has been in discussions with the Priestley head, James Gresty, about finding an answer to the issue, with some resident’s frustration arising from the fact that there is an overflow car park within the college grounds that could be used.
He stated that the hope of many who live there is that the council will issue parking permits to residents meaning anyone without a permit will not be allowed to park on the estate.
Warrington Borough Council however have stated that no action can be taken while the current owner of the land is construction company Bellway.
A spokesperson from WBC said: “The developer (Bellway) is responsible for the whole estate as the roads are currently unadopted. This means the council does not have any powers to intervene with any parking issues on the estate.
“This will change once the roads are adopted by the council.
“We have been in communication with Priestley College, and we understand they have spoken to students about this issue. Students are aware that there is an overflow car park off Loushers Lane for them to use.”
Meanwhile, MP Andy Carter has listened to the concerns raised by residents and has taken action in meeting with the principal of Priestley College and making further parking arrangements for students who attend the site.
In a statement, Mr Carter said: “As residents on The Heath estate have indicated, this has been an issue that has been ongoing for a number of years.
“Having met with the principal of Priestley College, local residents and highways engineers, I’ve taken action to increase access to free car parking for students nearby and I know the College have made it clear to students where they should park.
“However, road restrictions are a matter for the Council and it is unfortunate that local Labour councillors seem to be taking no action on behalf of their residents.
“It would be relatively straightforward to introduce a road order similar to the roads off Lovely Lane around the hospital which prohibit parking for non-residents, but the Council don’t appear to want to move forward with such a scheme for this area.”
Lastly Assistant Principal, Mark Eccleston addressed the issues highlighted by residents.
He said: “We are aware of the concerns raised by some residents about parking in streets near to the college.
“One of the reasons we offer a number of free buses is to encourage students to consider alternatives to driving and we will continue to work with transport companies to improve these services.
“Our students do have a dedicated car park on campus, but with limited spaces as we are not permitted to increase capacity, so we do also ask them to use the Loushers Lane Recreational Ground car park if required.
“We are not able to prevent anyone parking legally in residential streets, but we will continue to work closely with our neighbours to address any concerns they raise.”
In a more recent turn of events, resident Brenden Mills stated that housing company Bellway ‘have confirmed that the estate roads remain unadopted and therefore are classed as private roads’.
Signs are intended to be erected ‘Private Estate, residents only’ and he has been told a parking enforcement company will also be employed to enforce any parking charge notices that are issued to offending vehicles, that are not residents or visitors.
Brenden added: “This may be short lived as Bellway are pushing for the council to adopt the roads in the very near future. In the short term it will resolve our problem but post road adoption, we will possibly be back where we started.
“We need to ensure we have an agreed residents scheme with the council set up before this adoption is finalised.”
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