Parking wars hit Prestwick town centre

Apr 9 2010 by Stuart Wilson, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

A PARKING war has erupted in a congested town centre.

Residents in Prestwick claim the streets have become blocked by airport passengers leaving their vehicles in residential areas.

And they say authorities must clamp down on drivers who ignore parking restrictions.

The row has reached fever pitch following a two year consultation into the town’s car parking problem.

South Ayrshire Council, who asked for input from the public, is bidding to tackle gridlocked streets.

But residents claim new guidelines are being flaunted and have slammed a lack of rule enforcement.

They’re also blaming parking costs at Prestwick Airport for pushing plane passengers into the town centre.

Holiday

Prestwick councillor Helen Moonie said: “It costs less to fly on holiday than park at the airport for two weeks – that’s the real problem.

“As a result, you have a large number of airport passengers choosing to park in residential streets around Prestwick.

“I’ve even heard of examples where they park in the street then catch a cab to the airport. It’s utterly ridiculous.

“But we have to ensure that the parking consultation, which was widely acknowledged as a huge success, does not go to waste.

“A lot of time and money was spent on it and we must implement the recommendations for the benefit of people in Prestwick.”

The council – who received a grant from Strathclyde Passenger Transport to undertake the consultation – employed their own roads team on the project.

A number of recommendations were made to try and ease parking congestion in packed streets close to the town centre.

But it seems many of those are not being enforced strongly enough for the liking of residents.

Mrs Moonie added: “There’s a suggestion about a lack of enforcement, so that’s something we have to look at.

“If possible, the roads team and police have to work together to come up with some kind of plan.

“All sorts of streets in Prestwick are now affected and we have to act before it gets out of control.”

Mike Newall, the council’s head of planning and enterprise, said: “We actively promote road safety, which includes getting people to park responsibly and that is why additional parking restrictions such as double yellow lines, have been introduced in Prestwick.

“The enforcement of these parking restrictions is currently a matter for Strathclyde Police.

“However, we are developing proposals on decriminalised parking enforcement and have allocated £100,000 in the 2010/11 budget for this purpose, as yet no decisions have been made about details or possible changes.”