Joint Essex County Council and Epping Forest District Council parking review much delayed (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

Joint Essex County Council and Epping Forest District Council parking review much delayed

6:49pm Friday 19th March 2010 in

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A PARKING review designed to take away much maligned restrictions is nearly two years overdue to the despair of householders.

Among all the recent parking reviews initiated by Essex County Council across the district Buckhurst Hill's scheme has suffered one of the worst delays.

Residents gained new parking regulations in 2007, but many were left unhappy due to some roads near the tube station being left unrestricted while others far away became filled with so many yellow lines people were unable to park outside their own homes.

Peter Barry, 60, of Westbury Road, was one person affected.

He said: “It's clearly incompetency, one can only describe it as that. It doesn't have any priority. They go through the motions of a consultation and then don't take any notice.

“It's ridiculous. What am I supposed to do, I haven't got any parking spaces. It's been put on the back burner all this time and no-one has any accountability for it.”

After the original parking restrictions were added in 2007 a mandatory review to update them was scheduled to take place in May 2008.

After much delay, that consultation was finally staged in September last year, but since then deadlines for a published outcome have come and gone.

Buckhurst Hill Residents Society chairman Tony Oliva said: “First it was going to be before Christmas, then it was coming out in January and nothing came out. The parish council spoke to highways and they said it would be mid-March now that looks like that's gone.

“It's appalling maladministration on behalf of Essex County Council and the district council. I know you get delays from time to time, but this level of delay is absolutely abysmal and I can't understand the reasons for it.”

Essex County Council has been asked to comment.