Objection to Permit Parking on Somerset Road and Weymouth Road, Frome

The introduction of Permit Parking on Somerset Road and Weymouth Road in Frome under Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) Mendip Order 2012, Amendment No. 16 is flawed and unfair, and we object for the following reasons:  

  1. The original reason which prompted the residents of Weymouth Road and Somerset Road to engage with the Council about Permit Parking no longer applies. Since the closure of the Steiner Academy Frome, the number of children attending the new school on the Park Road site has plummeted, including a marked reduction in the number of non-Frome resident children attending the new school. Weymouth Road and Somerset Road are no longer crammed with parked cars at the beginning and end of the school day, and the associated level of inconsiderate parking on these roads is entirely diminished.
  2. The overwhelming majority of households on Weymouth and Somerset Roads already have the option of parking off-road on driveways or in garages associated with their properties. The proposed TRO would result in a group of advantaged residents being able to pay for the additional convenience of parking on the road in front of their houses. The non-monetary cost of this convenience, however, would be borne by residents of the neighbouring streets. In particular, the displaced non-resident parking from Weymouth and Somerset would reduce the availability of on-street parking for a nearby group of residents on the lower section of Nunney Road who have a greater need for on-street parking due to their greater lack of access to off-road parking. This would then, in turn, exacerbate the likely adverse, knock-on effects on the availability of on-street parking on other neighbouring roads, such as Dommett's Lane, Portland Road, and the middle and upper sections of Nunney Road.
  3. Unlike Weymouth Road and Somerset Road, a significant proportion of dwellings on the lower section of Nunney Road are rented to tenants through a housing association. Whilst it is not possible to know the specific economic circumstances of every household on any of the streets mentioned above, it is very likely that a greater proportion of residents on Nunney Road (than is the case for Somerset and Weymouth Roads) would struggle from a financial perspective to participate in a Permit Parking scheme (should the residents of Nunney Road be forced to consider such a scheme in the future as a direct consequence of the knock-on effect of the proposed TRO).   

Given the above, we believe the appropriateness and continued validity of the proposed TRO is highly questionable.  

On this basis, we request that Somerset County Council withdraws the proposed TRO in its current form.