A letter from one of our supporters to her councillor:

Dear Councillor Bastiman

As my NYCC councillor I was wondering what your views are on the parking scheme for Whitby. I am a Fylingdales resident and Whitby is our nearest town, as is the case for a very substantial number of residents in your division. However we are to be placed at the bottom of the queue when it comes to finding parking space to do shopping, banking, visit solicitors and other professional services, meet friends and relatives, use restaurants and other facilities, or perhaps more importantly to work in Whitby. We are on the wrong side of town to use the park and ride as the aim is to remove traffic from the town centre but we will have to drive across town to get to it and then take a return bus ride to use the town.

Not only will we be disadvantaged compared with residents, but also Whitby businesses will suffer from the reduction in trade. Increasingly we will only be able to shop at Sainsburys, Homebase and the butchers in Sleights and Ruswarp as it seems it will be all but impossible to find parking for more than an hour anywhere in town. Is the council's objective to reduce the level of local business activity in Whitby? If not, then what is the suggested solution? Please don't ask me to use the bus from Fylingthorpe. The service is almost non-existent and I live over a mile from the nearest stop. Parking in Whitby is difficult at the moment, but not impossible - with this scheme in place it's going to become a no-go zone for us Whitby District villagers for work, business and pleasure.

I have attempted to respond to the consultation questionnaire but residents on the periphery of the town are not represented on the form as a group to be consulted. Surely this is a remarkably silly oversight since it is where our children go to school and where we are closely attached to the community in so many ways.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards

"I live on Church Street, but if I can't park there, I will no longer be able to park in the surrounding streets. 

"Instead I have to go to Zone A which is more than 20 minutes walk away. What happens if it's late at night (particularly when North Yorkshire have turned off the street lighting next year)? Presumably I am expected to walk home alone in the dark? So it's pouring with rain? So my asthma is bad? So what then?

"Yet there may well be parking spaces much closer to home! But apparently I can't use them! WHY?  
"There's worse to come! If we want to visit friends and families in other zones, apparently we're expected not to want to spend the day with them! 

"If we're there for more than 2 hours (3 hours in Zone A - why do they have special treatment?), then we have to ask for a scratch card from the person we are visiting (we can't use our own) and residents are only allowed 50 a year. 

"So you have a children's party? So you're a grandparent that acts as a regular carer for a child in a different parking zone? So you're housebound depending on family and friends for support? Those 50 scratch cards aren't going to go very far. North Yorkshire's proposals are going to stop us seeing friends and loved ones and will increase social isolation among the elderly.

"And what about our amenities? The beach is incredibly popular with all of us. We have beach huts, we walk to Sandsend and back... we play on the beach. But if you live in the wrong zone, forget about taking your car to get there - unless you're prepared to pay through the nose.  All the sea front is payment meters with no arrangements for residents. Yet it's a fairish walk from lots of bits of town Why should these mad parking arrangements restrict Whitby people from using this best loved part of Whitby.

"And what if you're at a party. I know lots of people who drive there and maybe walk home or get a taxi if they've had a glass too many to drive, They'll pick up their car the next day perhaps after work or after taking the kids to school or maybe after a lie in on a weekend. 

"Forget that with the new scheme. You're going to have to have removed your car by the time the parking starts! And what happens if you've had a heavy night and you think you may still be over the limit? Isn't this an incentive to take a risk and take your car home at the end of the night... wrong to do, but... Why even put this into people's minds?

"And the bureaucracy! More parking wardens because EVERY car in Whitby will need to be examined to see that it's in the right zone and for the right time. How much is THAT going to cost. 

"This is SO unnecessary. I asked today whether the two NYCC reps at the T!C today could tell me what advantage a lot of zones have over just one zone. They said there isn't one!

"We want just ONE zone if this Parking scheme is to go ahead. Come on Whitby, let's tell NYCC and our two county Councillors that this scheme is wrong, wrong, WRONG!"


By Diana Jeuda.