Local leaders to spend more than £25,000 on potential residents parking zone in Stowmarket
It'd be to help people living near the train station
Local leaders in Suffolk have agreed to spend more than £25,000 on a potential parking zone for residents in a town.
The proposals were brought forward by Cllr Teresa Davis, Mid Suffolk’s lead for thriving communities, during a meeting of cabinet members last week.
She asked cabinet members to agree to spend £25,646 in designing a resident parking zone (RPZ) in Stowmarket to address the difficulties residents living near the train station faced when trying to park on-street, as a result of commuters and workers avoiding parking charges.
It followed an informal survey in which 66 per cent of the 207 total respondents said they regularly had difficulty finding somewhere to park.
To fix this, the majority said a permit scheme would be a good solution but only 48 per cent said they would be prepared to pay for a permit.
Councillors agreed to use the money to design the scheme, using the money for site visits, documents and a formal consultation.
Ultimately, however, Suffolk County Council will have the power to establish the RPZ and would depend on Mid Suffolk’s ability to prove resident support and approve its creation alongside funding.
Council papers stated it could take up to two years to complete the entire process.