Locals say plans to stop people parking outside village pub are a ‘waste of money’
New restrictions to stop drivers parking outside a village pub have taken a step forward, despite some concerns it would be a ‘waste of money’. Cambridgeshire County Council has approved plans to paint double yellow lines outside The Carpenters Arms, in Great Wilbraham.
The new restrictions were requested by the parish council to address safety concerns of people parking their cars on a blind bend outside of the pub. A report published by the county council set out how the double yellow lines are proposed to be painted outside and opposite The Carpenters Arms, as well as along the curved bend in the road from Church Street, to the High Street, to Angle End.
Concerns had been raised by some people in the village about the plans for the new restrictions. One person highlighted that the pub has its own car park and said overspill parking on the road was a “very rare occurrence”. Another person claimed the double yellow lines would be a “waste of taxpayers money” and said the money should be spent on other things such as repairing potholes.
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County council officers said the funding for the new restrictions came from a ring fenced budget, and said comments from others in the village and the parish council suggested parking on the bend was “frequent enough occurrence to be a concern”. Concerns were also raised that the double yellow lines would lead to people parking elsewhere and potentially seeing some people’s driveways being blocked.
However, there were people who contacted the county council to share their support of the plans. One person said they believed the double yellow lines would “significantly deter” people from parking outside of the pub. The proposals were considered by the traffic manager at the county council and Councillor Claire Daunton. In a decision report published by the authority it said they had decided to approve the plans to paint the new double yellow lines outside the pub.
However, they did decide to slightly shorten the length of road covered by the double yellow lines on Angle End. The report said: “Though there is the concern of referral parking, it is deemed that there are sufficient on-street parking provisions in the surrounding area to account for this and that this does not supersede the necessity to address the safety concern associated with vehicles parking on the blind bend/around the respective junctions.”