OVER the last few years I have read the exchanges about parking in Ely.
I would like to think that parking in Ely has been ‘planned’ by the council, but ‘town planning’ in Ely appears to be an oxymoron.
Who would ‘plan’ to put all new commercial development near the station and the housing for a population, many of whom have to commute to make a living, on the other side of town, requiring them to undertake a car journey to get to the station where they need a parking space for the day?
Street parking adds to the congestion in Ely, but it could have been partly avoided.
Indented street parking could have been introduced on a number of occasions in the recent past such as when development permission was grated for the two sites in Broad Street (Cardinals Court and 55a-57a Broad Street) and in Station Road.
The brewery estate in Lisle lane and the abattoir development in Willow Walk also gave the council another opportunity to ease congestion problems. But clearly, developers had their way and extracted the last square metre from the council for development.
But it’s not all bad news for motorists, it appears that new car parks are springing up all the time.
I note the latest is the Forehill car park - used mainly on Thursdays. When one side of the road is full, parking extends to the other side - very convenient (unless you are trying to drive up or down the hill).
Fear not, having screwed up the traffic situation in Ely the council has had a brain wave - ‘charged parking’ - so they won’t come and spend money in Ely.
Great thinking councillors!
JOHN DARLINGTON
Willow Walk
Ely
Via e-mail
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