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Hi all,
I've been banging my head against a brick wall for a few months over an issue that is causing me huge grief. I'll try to be as brief as possible but it is a long one.
1) I live on a hill, and my house is accessed by an alleyway....mine is the house at the end of this alleyway, and is quite high from the main road with a bank of hedges/brambles in between;
2) Last year around beg of October the council slapped double yellow lines all up and down, around our road. This has left residents with practically nowhere to park. I wasn't notified by letter as I moved in after they wrote to everyone. In their letter to residents, they put something to the effect that 'if you have any objections, let us know, but you won't receive a response'. I think one responded against the lines, others didn't bother as they thought if they weren't going to receive a response, there's no point...didn't hear any more until they actually painted the lines some 2 yrs after the letter. Apparently they put notices up (I didn't see any) and all that.
3) The lack of parking has caused horrendous problems. I decided to sell up and move because of it and am struggling to sell my house. I emailed so many times, and got a meeting set up with the local councillor/transport guy/local residents. About 12 people turned up complaining about the lines and parking problems. The transport guy said 'I'll take your comments, but unfortunately we deal with safety, providing parking is not our problem'. He also told me that we have no right or guarantee to parking except off-street parking of our own. The interesting thing is that their reasons for putting the yellow lines in was that there was a near miss with a boy running out into the road (one resident complained) so the lines were put in. The brow of the hill is a bit dangerous, so rightly there should be lines there, but why for the whole road up and down the hill?
4) As my house is steep, I can't create parking without spending a fortune, not to mention the legal/planning/time wrangles. I've dropped my house price by £10k to help sell the house, but mostly the feedback is 'love the house, but the parking is an issue'. Of the 6 odd houses along the alleyway, I am the only one who owns mine, apart from one other. The rest are council-owned and aren't really that bothered/don't want to pay for parking or do anything else in particular, so I feel like I'm fighting alone.
5) Up and across the road to us is space for about 3-4 cars, where we try to park. There is a low bank that the council could easily turn into parking for a further 5-6 cars but it is a cost/funding/time issue...none of which anyone is really bothered about. Doesn't help me. Further to these spaces, there is a car park for a block of council flats - 12 spaces. The car park is ALWAYS under-utilised, with about 1-2 cars at the most parking there. The housing association will not give us parking permits to park there as there is 'not enough spaces for the residents if we were to park there'. They've refused outright to let us park there, or around the back of another council-flat area..again a usually empty car park. If I had a parking permit for a year, it would be a pretty much guaranteed space (as the car park is hardly ever used) and IMHO would help sell the house, if the buyers knew they had a space to use.
6) We now all tend to park further up the road, in front of other people's house walls/hedges. We've had notes left to say 'don't park in front of my house, I need to park there, don't be selfish'. So the problem is just compounded and moves further up the road.
7) A review of the double-yellow lines is meant to be happening this/next month but the council won't say anything or commit to agreeing to remove part of the lines further down the hill. This would ease the parking problem, and still be safe.
I'm going round and round in circles with this problem as no one in the council basically gives a *&$%. The estate agent has agreed with me that the lack of parking is one of the main reasons the house isn't selling.
What the hell do I do?
I've been banging my head against a brick wall for a few months over an issue that is causing me huge grief. I'll try to be as brief as possible but it is a long one.
1) I live on a hill, and my house is accessed by an alleyway....mine is the house at the end of this alleyway, and is quite high from the main road with a bank of hedges/brambles in between;
2) Last year around beg of October the council slapped double yellow lines all up and down, around our road. This has left residents with practically nowhere to park. I wasn't notified by letter as I moved in after they wrote to everyone. In their letter to residents, they put something to the effect that 'if you have any objections, let us know, but you won't receive a response'. I think one responded against the lines, others didn't bother as they thought if they weren't going to receive a response, there's no point...didn't hear any more until they actually painted the lines some 2 yrs after the letter. Apparently they put notices up (I didn't see any) and all that.
3) The lack of parking has caused horrendous problems. I decided to sell up and move because of it and am struggling to sell my house. I emailed so many times, and got a meeting set up with the local councillor/transport guy/local residents. About 12 people turned up complaining about the lines and parking problems. The transport guy said 'I'll take your comments, but unfortunately we deal with safety, providing parking is not our problem'. He also told me that we have no right or guarantee to parking except off-street parking of our own. The interesting thing is that their reasons for putting the yellow lines in was that there was a near miss with a boy running out into the road (one resident complained) so the lines were put in. The brow of the hill is a bit dangerous, so rightly there should be lines there, but why for the whole road up and down the hill?
4) As my house is steep, I can't create parking without spending a fortune, not to mention the legal/planning/time wrangles. I've dropped my house price by £10k to help sell the house, but mostly the feedback is 'love the house, but the parking is an issue'. Of the 6 odd houses along the alleyway, I am the only one who owns mine, apart from one other. The rest are council-owned and aren't really that bothered/don't want to pay for parking or do anything else in particular, so I feel like I'm fighting alone.
5) Up and across the road to us is space for about 3-4 cars, where we try to park. There is a low bank that the council could easily turn into parking for a further 5-6 cars but it is a cost/funding/time issue...none of which anyone is really bothered about. Doesn't help me. Further to these spaces, there is a car park for a block of council flats - 12 spaces. The car park is ALWAYS under-utilised, with about 1-2 cars at the most parking there. The housing association will not give us parking permits to park there as there is 'not enough spaces for the residents if we were to park there'. They've refused outright to let us park there, or around the back of another council-flat area..again a usually empty car park. If I had a parking permit for a year, it would be a pretty much guaranteed space (as the car park is hardly ever used) and IMHO would help sell the house, if the buyers knew they had a space to use.
6) We now all tend to park further up the road, in front of other people's house walls/hedges. We've had notes left to say 'don't park in front of my house, I need to park there, don't be selfish'. So the problem is just compounded and moves further up the road.
7) A review of the double-yellow lines is meant to be happening this/next month but the council won't say anything or commit to agreeing to remove part of the lines further down the hill. This would ease the parking problem, and still be safe.
I'm going round and round in circles with this problem as no one in the council basically gives a *&$%. The estate agent has agreed with me that the lack of parking is one of the main reasons the house isn't selling.
What the hell do I do?
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