Parking issues

Your FOCUS team has dealt with parking matters at St Benedicts Mount in the past.

I tackled the people running the weightwatchers sessions at the church, and tried to get the message across that the parking was annoying local residents. This improved things temporarily, but now the problems are back. At a recent West Hunsbury parish council meeting, a representative from the church attended to listen to the concerns and….. promised to try to deal with them.

The police have said that they can act if there are any instances of obstruction, and they will keep a closer eye on the problem. The church will talk to users of their facilities and ask people to park in the Country Park car park (weather permitting), to car share if possible and to park on Hunsbury Hill Road rather than in St Benedict’s Mount. This can, however, cause problems for users of Hunsbury Hill Road, if there is a long stretch of cars parked around the bend.

The police suggested a residents’ parking scheme, but this would cost an annual fee of about £25. I contacted all the local residents of St Benedict’s Mount to ask their views on this. I got lots of responses, all of whom hated the idea of a parking scheme! Ideally if the Country Park car park had a decent surface and lighting that would make a huge difference, but the cost of that would be massive.