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A Preston resident says he is sometimes forced to park a quarter of a mile away from his home after highways bosses scrapped one of the city’s permit zones.
David Gate told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that the change has resulted in a parking free-for-all in the St. Mark’s area – which lies close to the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) and is home to several student house shares.
Lancashire County Council highways bosses say that the permits previously issued are no longer compatible with government regulations – because single yellow line restrictions outlawing daytime parking already exist in the former zone and it is not now possible to exempt permit holders from that ban.
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However, David claims those rules are not being enforced by wardens – and, even if they were, they would apply equally to householders like him who had previously enjoyed the benefits of a permit.
“Surely the most obvious thing to do would have been simply to remove the yellow lines and change the signs to make the area parking for permit holders only.
“But what’s happened over the years is that people have obviously realised there is no enforcement – so the parking situation has got worse and worse,” the Wellington Street resident explained.
He stressed that he is in no way “anti-student”, having studied at UCLan himself. But he said one of the pluses of the previous system was that permits were issued only for those vehicles that were registered at a particular address – meaning it was not possible for the temporary occupants of student housing to obtain them for all their cars.
“I don’t expect to be able to park right outside my house every day – even when we had a permit, it did say quite clearly that it didn’t entitle you to that. But now, if you’re away [from home] for any reason and come back, you’re lucky to find anywhere to park at all.
“I’ve sometimes had to park a quarter of a mile away [after] driving around. [On one occasion], it was pouring with rain, so I had to leave all the stuff that I wanted to take into my house in the car boot,” said David, who added that some of his less mobile neighbours were badly affected by the situation.
He also told the LDRS that he and several other locals did not receive details of an informal consultation that the county council carried out in 2021 and which the authority says resulted in the “overwhelming” majority of 21 respondents – out of a total of more than 300 letters issued – opposing the reintroduction of the ‘SM1’ permit zone, which was suspended back in 2017. That was after responsibility for the management of the city’s parking permits transferred from Preston City Council to Lancashire County Council.
In a letter to David addressing his concerns, County Hall’s head of highways management service, John Davies, blamed “a factor outside of our control” for any consultation letters going undelivered.
He added: “Naturally, St Mark’s remains a central location. With no off-street parking available, there will often be competition for parking spaces.
“However, the overwhelming preference of residents is not to need a paid permit to park on their street (even at the risk of increased competition for spaces). As such, we have no plans to reintroduce any form of residents’ parking scheme in the St Mark’s area.”
It is understood that other permit zones bordering SM1 continued without interruption following the transfer.
In a statement issued to the LDRS, a spokesperson for Lancashire County Council said: “We took over responsibility for parking enforcement in this area some years ago.
“Following consultations with residents, culminating in January last year, plans for some double yellow lines in this area were approved in September 2023, and work on implementing these is due to start imminently.”
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