Call to pull parking permits from unadopted roads

A councillor has backed calls to remove parking permits for Bradford streets not maintained by the council.

Joe Wheatley, independent councillor for Bingley, said Bradford Council had already started a trial in the district to assess the impact of removing the restrictions on unadopted roads.

Last year the council introduced a £35 charge for all permits as part of a series of changes to parking fees to help raise £2.7m over the next two-and-a-half years.

Wheatley said residents had contacted him saying the permits were "unfair, particularly on an unadopted road".

Across Bradford there are currently about 14,000 resident and visitor permits issued, which the council said would bring in about £500,000 a year.

Ryan Firth, 42, is leading a campaign to get the unmade Balfour Street in Bingley taken off the scheme.

He said: "On top of the council tax rises of (almost) 10%, to then come and ask us for another fee to park outside our own homes on unadopted land...

"It just feels like another cash grab and a kick in the teeth to us all."

The telecoms engineer and father-of-two said he had sympathy for the council and the financial situation it was facing.

He said: "If they are going to persist with the permit scheme... we'd like to see the potholes repaired on the end of the road, just make it accessible for us.

"If not, scrap the scheme or don't charge us for it."

The new charges were brought in last October and were applied on renewal of a permit with an additional £40 for a visitor spot.

Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe said at the time she understood some people may feel "annoyed" but the fees were necessary due to "severe financial pressure".

Four separate petitions across the district have been set up calling for the charges to be dropped altogether, whether or not they are on adopted roads.

Wheatley said the Balfour Street permits were originally free and brought in "years ago" to deter workers from the former Bradford and Bingley Building Society parking outside people's homes.

He said: "It's no longer as relevant now as Bradford and Bingley has gone.

"Ryan, like a number of other constituents, reached out to me to say that the permit parking charge feels unfair.

"Particularly on an unadopted road and particularly where they don't feel the benefit of the permit parking charge.

"So they're putting together a petition saying please can (the council) scrap the parking permit charge status."

A spokesperson for Bradford Council said Balfour Street and Gladstone Street were unadopted roads that formed part of a wider scheme designed to manage residential and visitor/commuter parking in the area.

"In this case, a permit parking scheme has been implemented, and enforcement is carried out accordingly," the spokesperson said

"The council can adopt roads under the Highways Act 1980.

"However, before adoption, residents and other property owners with frontages on the road would need to fund the necessary improvements to bring the street up to adoptable standards.

"Residents can request a review to remove the parking zone, but it must be supported by a petition which is signed by at least 10 households or 15% of the properties in the zone (whichever is greater)."

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