The wraps have come off a raft of proposed changes to parking and unloading restrictions in central Ross-on-Wye have been unveiled by Herefordshire Council.
Anyone who may be affected by the proposed changes has 21 days, starting from this Thursday, February 17, to register their comments with the Council.
Following this, the authority will consider any representations it receives before finalizing proposals it hopes to bring into force before the summer.
The changes have been drawn up after months of detailed consultation with local organisations, traders and representatives of local groups.
“These changes reflect the level of concern which has been expressed by road users, shoppers and businesses about the control of on-street parking in and around the town centre,” said Stephen Oates, Herefordshire Council’s Head of Highways and Transportation.
The major proposed changes to the current parking arrangements in the town are:
- Permitting cars to use loading bays that are presently allocated solely for goods vehicles. Maximum loading times will be applied to these bays.
- Swapping the position of the taxi rank and loading bay outside The Maltings in Broad Street so taxi users do not disembark into live traffic.
- Changes to the maximum waiting times in the limited waiting areas in the town, particularly Broad Street, Gloucester Road, Wilton Road and Old Maid’s Walk.
- Switching the positions of the loading bay and disabled parking bay in Gloucester Road in the vicinity of the NatWest bank to ease traffic congestion.
- Making the taxi rank in Gloucester Road an evening/night time facility only and providing a limited waiting for other users during the day.
- Simplifying the restrictions for High Street, Market Place and upper Broad Street by prohibiting waiting and prohibiting loading during peak hours.
- The loading area adjacent to the Market House in High Street will be formalised and become a night-time taxi rank.
- The introduction of parking restrictions in Smallbrook Road to relieve traffic congestion.
- Prohibition of parking on the Ashburton Industrial Estate Road to improve road safety, traffic flow and address concerns regarding the overnight parking of lorries.
- Prohibition of parking at the junction of Merrivale Road and Alton Street to improve safety.
- Allowing resident parking permits to be used on a zonal basis rather than confined to specific streets to provide greater flexibility. Also, allowing visitor permits (where appropriate) and increasing the charge of a single permit to £25 to harmonise the charges with similar schemes elsewhere in the County.
- The provision of four hour parking in Wilton Road to provide a medium term facility for shoppers and visitors, and to prohibit waiting at the bend adjacent to the western junction of Wye Street to improve safety.
- Providing additional short-term parking in front of the entrance to the Royal Hotel in Royal Parade.
- Relaxing some of the lengths of prohibited waiting in Edde Cross Street between New Street and Kyrle Street, and adjacent to the Baptist Church to allow waiting during the evening and night time periods. Additional limited waiting is proposed in the vicinity of Morley Square.
- The limited waiting area in Old Gloucester Road adjacent to the frontage to the garage and telephone exchange to be replaced with prohibited waiting.
- The plans will be available for viewing at Swan House, Ross-on-Wye, for a period of 21 days during which time written representations can be made in response to the proposals.
Anyone who considers that they are likely to be affected by these changes is urged to view the plans during this period.
“The existing parking restrictions in Ross-on-Wye have developed over many years. This is an opportunity to remove some of the anomalies that have developed and to make some minor improvements where experience has shown there can be problems for users and businesses,” added Stephen Oates.
In addition to these changes to the parking controls, work will start on site in Camp Road on March 7 to restrict traffic access at the junction of Alton Road.
The scheme will be introduced on an experimental basis and will consist of prohibiting the right turn from Camp Road to Alton Road, and the left turn from Alton Road to Camp Road.
It is being implemented in response to residents concern about the speed and volume of traffic using Camp Road.