Withdrawal/closing of this petition

[POSTED ORIGINALLY ON THE SRR GROUP ON FACEBOOK WHICH CONCERNS THIS POSTCODE]

Good Morning All,

 I’m Adam from Bayford Road, and I am the guy who sent the postcards to all Bayford Road addresses regarding the online petition for permitted parking on said road.Now, first off, if you don’t want to read the massive essay I am posting: TL;DR: I am closing and withdrawing the petitionNow, for those who like to read essays; below I will go into further detail covering all the points I have seen in the SRR Group since being added yesterday.

1. I didn’t know the SRR group existed on Facebook until yesterday. If I had known sooner about this Facebook group, I wouldn’t have sent out the petition and instead would have asked about the group to gauge other people's feelings before considering starting the petition and wasting ~£60 on postcards
2. Decreased Property Value - I had known about the potential decrease in property value, however, when I first considered this petition, I had seen conflicting information on this. Some were saying that property values increase, as statistically, you would be more likely to be able to park on the road. In contrast, others stated a decrease in property value based on their experiences, similar to those raised in this group.
3. Limitations of Household Parking - I had considered this when starting this petition, however, most of the people we know of in Bayford only seem to have 1 or 2 cars. If others on this road have multiple vehicles, say for example 1 car for each parent and 2 for their elder children who are driving, then I can see how this would then become an issue.
4. Reduced Access for Family and Friends - This I overlooked, as I know that along with permits for your own vehicles, you can also issue tickets for family and friends to park in the road if they are visiting. I believe in most cases the maximum stay time for friends and family is for 4 hours, but had the petition been successful, then I would have further enquired into these types of tickets and how long they can be used for. Additionally, disabled family and friends from my understanding would have been exempt from the permitted rules of the road. I have family and friends who have permitted parking on their roads, and whenever we have visited there we found the process to be pretty simple and without issue.
5. Risk of permit fees increasing - As with all council fees, yes, the parking permits would be subject to change as well. Financially this is concerning, however, the whole point of the petition was to see who was willing to take the risk. Though the point raised of extra expenses during a financially difficult time is most definitely a valid one, as my household is also facing this strain.
6. There was a point raised of those without internet access being unable to access this petition to either sign it or to leave a comment stating why they wouldn’t sign it. In hindsight, I should have mentioned on the petition that after 50 signatures (providing it reached that point), I would have gone door to door to then cover the views of those in this position.
7. As raised within one of the comments, yes, the cook kitchen workers are becoming more of a nuisance, however, it isn’t just them. Fast food drivers for the take-aways on the main road park up in Bayford and Shortlands, as well as those collecting their meals, alongside those parking up, then going to the train station or other places of work. I know that those who use the tattoo shops on the main road also park in this area.
8. For the points stating that you won’t necessarily be able to get a parking space, yes, that is true. However, statistically, you are more likely to than not. For those coming home from work in the evenings once the permitted time ends (past 6pm) there will more than likely still be issues. However, the permits would help prevent the sort of people mentioned in the previous point from using our roads to park up during the day and then begin avoiding the area in general. If they begin avoiding the area in general, then there is more of a chance of residents gaining a space. Of course, this doesn’t cover those who work late shifts, like the kitchen workers, however, I would have hoped that it would have at least prevented the RLC garage from parking his client's vehicles all over the place during the day.One person did mention that the permit times could possibly be extended to 10pm. I wasn’t aware of this, however, from what I have read on online forums, it depends on how close your property is to the town centre and whether there is industry nearby, which I think we definitely would have qualified for.
9. People in this group have raised points of their own experiences with parking permits at previous addresses, and of course, I cannot deny their experiences. So it is always good to take these into account and I was hoping for contact from those with prior experiences such as these so I could take them into account.
10.  For those claiming there are still loads of spaces during the day, that simply isn’t the case anymore with Bayford Road, due to the presence of the RLC garage. I have come home during the day to only find that I would have to park in the public car park or shortlands road. If there are still plenty of spaces during the day for all the other roads in the SRR area, consider yourselves lucky.
11. One point that was raised that I definitely agree with is that people should be more considerate with their parking, and I 100% agree with this! I know some people can be funny about parking on this road, some even going as far as to ensure they are always parked outside their own address. For me personally, I have always tried to park as close to my property as possible when convenient, however, if the space wasn’t available, I wasn’t phased and would either park up in the block-paved area at the bottom of Bayford Road or in Tesco’s car park.As stated in the petition, my health has declined having been diagnosed with various health issues and disabilities, so parking closer to my door has become more of a necessity for me. I am still trying to get a disabled badge and disabled bay, however, due to the nature of my health issues and the fact my disabilities are invisible ones, the council are still not permitting me this. All that aside, the point I wanted to make is that I was not fussed about parking right outside my door up until recently, and was happy just to park wherever in the road and allow decent amount of space for others to park up wherever possible, and maybe moving my vehicle if I spot that other cars have moved about opening up more potential space for others.
12. A point was raised of those without blue badges parking in disabled bays. I didn’t realise that that was happening in this area, but definitely a good point to make.

The reason I am now deciding to close and withdraw this petition has come from covering all these points and having seen the poll on this group page showing that 92% of people in the area would much rather not have permitted parking in this area. Getting a wider view of people in the area is the key to this situation, and regardless of my feelings about it, we all must go with the majority, so I am happy to leave things as they are and go with the said majority. That's democracy 🙂

However, I would like to address one final point of the rather rude comments made stating that if I don’t like the situation, then I should move.

I like this area, I like this road, I like my neighbours, I like how close to the town centre we are, and aside from all of that, I have put so much effort into my property trying to make a house a home. We have slowly been extending/refurbishing our property since 2019, and we are almost at the end of it. I have put my own literal blood, sweat and tears into this property and I do not plan on leaving it any time soon. Additionally, I have a personal history with this road as my great-grandfather owned what was the shop at the end of Bayford Road onto Shortlands Road. Older residents may remember him as “Curly Bill”.

 I started this petition to try and assess whether people would be interested in this sort of thing for our road and then progress to taking this further with the council depending on the response. I do not feel that calling me out and calling me a Twat was warranted. The same issuer of these comments, however, shares my views on the RLC garage so I can’t bear a grudge.

Now, ALL OF THE ASIDE, having been previously unaware of this group, thank you for inviting me into it. I can see this group as being a really good resource to all help and look out for one another. I shall keep an eye on posts and help wherever I can 🙂

Hope you all have a great Sunday.

Thank you for reading my long rambling essay. 😀