New Ferry business owners raise concerns after police issue fines
An emergency meeting's been called to discuss the situation
Business owners have slammed authorities for having “nothing better to do” after they were fined for parking on a Merseyside town’s high street.
An emergency meeting has been called in New Ferry as people slammed the practice as “absolutely disgraceful”.
It’s understood a section of Bebington Road has been pedestrianised for over three decades but recently parked cars have been a regular sight in the area. Restrictions, which are now being enforced following complaints of dangerous driving, only allow loading and unloading by local businesses after 4.30pm and before 10.30am.
Sam Jelenski, who runs community hub Lumi Place, was one of those who was fined in the recent crackdown. He said many businesses were using the road due to the loss of the Woodhead Street car park nearby to a new regeneration development in the town centre.
Following the loss of that car park, there remains two public car parks in the area on Grove Street which have a combined capacity of 138 spaces. The LDRS understands Wirral Council officers visited Grove Street several times this week and more than 50 spaces were available during each of the visits,
However businesses are taking the opposite view, including claiming many of these spaces have been taken up by staff at a nearby school.
Mr Jelenski said: “They are just fining everybody because they have got nothing better to do.
“We are just trying to establish what should we do. The businesses are starting to think ‘let’s move somewhere else’. If the businesses are already coming up with ideas to move out from New Ferry because we have no parking spaces, there’s no footfall.”
As the hub offers free food giveaways, he added: “How on earth do you expect me to drag 500kg of food from a car that is parked 300 metres away? That is a joke.”
The LDRS has spoken to four different business owners who said they have been fined and they are unlikely to be the only ones. A spokesperson for Merseyside Police said they carried out enforcement in the area in line with the existing rules, adding: “We work closely with all local authorities to ensure that roads are kept safe and accessible for all users.”
A Wirral Council spokesperson said: “We understand police officers have recently carried out activity enforcing the traffic restrictions on this part of Bebington Road, which prohibits vehicles, except for when they are loading and unloading during specified times. This followed complaints from residents and businesses that drivers are using the pedestrianised area as a cut-through to New Chester Road.”
Mr Jelenski also slammed Bromborough councillor Jo Bird who pushed for more enforcement in December. He told the LDRS: “She is always first to be seen on a picture but the last to take any action.”
Cllr Bird said people had been complaining about dangerous driving for many years and thanked police, adding: “It’s not okay for aggressive drivers to drive on the pedestrian precinct and put everyone else in danger.”
However to make matters worse for the council, the Mayor’s car was spotted parked on the road on January 15. Paula Upton-Roberts, who runs business Money Matters since 2011, said: “I was absolutely blazing. I cannot even put into words how I was feeling.
“How does that look? It is us little businesses who have fought to keep the precinct going.”
A Wirral Council spokesperson said: “The Mayor of Wirral recently had an engagement at the Martin Gallier Project in New Ferry.
“On arrival, the driver found that the parking space proposed by the charity did not meet the safety and security risk assessment. Instead, he identified the top of Bebington Road as the safest option to ensure the Mayor did not have to walk far in the Mayoral Chains of Office which are valuable and which also allowed the car to be in what he felt was the most secure, and least obstructive, place in that area for the vehicle, while also staying nearby.”