A meeting organised by the Frome Neighbourhood Parking Group at the Town Hall on Monday 24^th October was well attended by local residents, Frome Town Councillors and Somerset County Councillors. This was in response to the Weymouth Road residents permit scheme and the knock-on proposed Trinity area residents' scheme.

The meeting opened with a presentation by one of the members, Marina Swinburne, who explained that the group were not professionals, but just a group of residents who had come together in response to the ever-decreasing parking and increasing restrictions on parking in the area. She emphasised that they did not have all the answers but were just trying to find a fair solution for everyone. She said:

"We have always been clear that a town-wide parking review is what Frome needs. Numbers of cars, traffic flows etc… how can you create meaningful parking solutions without these?

Also, Somerset County Council and the Traffic Management Act of 2004 are clear that displacement into other streets needs to be considered prior to the implementation of Residents Parking Schemes."

After the presentation the residents were able to have their say in a question and answer, session.

Bob Ashford, a Somerset Road resident who has been involved in the Weymouth Road residents' scheme from the beginning, gave some background information. He said: "the scheme was never supposed to be just Weymouth Road. It was meant to be for both Weymouth and Somerset Roads. The fact that both roads border a public park which is used by visiting families, the bowls and tennis clubs, etc … had not been factored into the equation. The scheme implemented on just Weymouth Road is a scheme that was not voted on and it has made Somerset Road much more dangerous."

Prior to the Frome Neighbourhood Parking group's petition, which was presented to SCC in February with 456 signatories, and the scheme going live, a petition had also been submitted by Nunney Road residents, alerting SCC to the dangers of the scheme to surrounding roads.

The group questions why at this point the scheme was not withdrawn and reconsidered, instead of implementing it on just Weymouth Road and leaving Somerset Road and other surrounding roads to suffer the consequences.

Residents from Castle St, Weymouth Road, Trinity Walk, Milk St and Selwood Road spoke, raising concerns a residents' scheme would present in the Trinity area - the fact that it would reduce available parking, be an additional cost at a time we are in a cost-of-living crisis, that the consultation wasn't clear in what it was offering, the fact that some residents such as those on Milk St, hadn't received the letter, that surrounding roads would be impacted, and that small businesses and their customers would suffer …

It was agreed that the parking problems were not just caused by the Weymouth Road scheme, but the gradual removal of free parking available to residents by the council such as the Badcox car park. That the introduction of parking fees in car parks introduced by the council had pushed many visitors onto residential roads. Many of these changes occurred after the last parking review in 2008, so a town-wide parking review is more than overdue.

A resident on Weymouth Road, who had initially contacted Somerset County Council, also put the record straight on what he had asked for. He said that it was to do with safety rather than a request for a residents' scheme. His wording to them was: "We the undersigned request that SCC investigate what options are available to improve parking, traffic management and Highway safety in Weymouth Road."

The Group agrees that safety on Weymouth Road was an issue but questions why other options were not explored, a 20MPH speed limit, speed bumps, yellow lines by driveway exits, etc …

County Cllr Martin Dimery said that the way the scheme on Weymouth Road was introduced may have been a mistake. That since the last parking review there have been many changes. He promised that under the new Unitary Council, who would be in charge of car parks and on-road parking, another review would be carried out. He also made clear that the Trinity scheme questionnaire would now just feed into a wider town centre consultation and urged people to fill in and return the questionnaires, in order to be counted. He also advised people to engage in the Weymouth Road 3-month review which started on the 19^th September and is due to end on the 19^th December.

The Group asks people to email details of problems that this scheme may be causing them and any photographic evidence that they have of increased congestion in their road, caused by cars displaced from Weymouth Road to the following addresses:

[email protected] / [email protected].

An online questionnaire is now available for the Trinity area which currently says it closes on 31st October, whereas the paper questionnaire is due back on the 14th November. The group urges anyone who will be affected by the proposed parking permit scheme to fill in the questionnaire. They also highlight that the consultation is skewed towards imposing residents permits. It offers various times for residents permits, but doesn't offer the option of 'Never', so people need to select 'Other' and write in the dialogue box: 'NEVER - why is this option not available?' if they wish to keep the status quo.

https://somerset.inconsult.uk/TrinityAreaFrome/respondByQuestionnaire

The group also asks residents to email any comments or photos to the group which may help them to build up a case: [email protected]

Going forward, the response to the Neighbourhood Parking Meeting has shown that people are willing to engage and want to find the best solutions to everyone's parking needs.

The meeting can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/_9M7xgiGF30