Match day parking trouble

06 March 2010

DRIVERS parking along a busy Clevedon road at weekends have prompted numerous complaints from residents and councillors.

During most Saturdays, many people park their cars in Holly Lane while using the adjacent sport fields of Swiss Valley Sports Centre for football matches.

The centre shares a car park with Clevedon School, yet, despite the spaces being available at weekends, they hardly ever get used.

Now, Clevedon Town Council is looking at ways of stopping people parking in Holly Lane.

This could be either by encouraging them to use the school facility or by convincing North Somerset Council to create a new car park next to the playing fields.

Councillor Nick Pennycott said: "One Saturday morning I counted 37 cars in Holly Lane and six on the road to Portishead.

"I looked into the school and managed to count more than 70 empty parking spaces.

"The road is in absolute mayhem when there are matches on.

"We are trying to get something done about it as it is definitely dangerous."

Clevedon Town Council has asked North Somerset Council to draw up proposals for a new car park in an area of the sports fields or school grounds that is not used very often.

Cllr Graham Watkins, the town council's transport and highways committee chairman, said: "More and more people are using those fields, which makes the road situation even worse.

"The obvious solution would be for people to park at the school but they don't seem to want to do that.

"It is now in the court of North Somerset Council."

During a meeting of Clevedon Town Council on February 24, it was suggested that fliers could be place on the windscreens of cars parked in Holly Lane to advise drivers that the school car park is there for them to use.

The option of putting double yellow lines along the road has also been looked at but has been turned down by North Somerset Council.

A spokesman for the unitary authority said: "If cars are just parking there on match days then if we were to put yellow lines in that would disadvantage motorists that park there at other times.

"This does not form part of our forthcoming review of parking restrictions in Clevedon but we will have a look to see if there is anything we can do to help.