WORKERS and commuters in Petersfield are using roads close to the town centre as a huge all-day free car park, making life a living hell for hundreds of householders. Residents say their lives have become a nightmare as they have to park in other roads away from their homes or even pay town centre car park prices while non-residents clog their streets with cars. Many residents say they have had to pay thousands of pounds over the years because they had no alternative but to use car parks. They say more residents' parking schemes are urgently needed in the town centre, but Hampshire County Council is making Alton its priority and Petersfield could wait another six years for help. On Tuesday night town centre residents crowded into East Hampshire District Council's chamber at Penns Place and pleaded for support to end their parking nightmare. Speaking on behalf of residents of Sandringham Road, Osborne Road and Woolner Avenue, Samantha Farrow appealed to district councillors to help residents "claim back our roads". She said her family moved back to Petersfield from London to escape overcrowding, traffic pollution and parking chaos. "We actually find Sandringham Road worse than the road we moved from. It is not the quiet residential road in the Hampshire market town that we believed we were moving to. "In fact it has constant traffic, is congested, over-parked, usually double parked, and allows no priority for the rights of the individual residents who through their council tax pay for its upkeep," she said. She said although she was highlighting the problems in three roads, the problem stretched right across Petersfield. "There is a saturated solution of parking problems and displacement of car owners looking for that all-too-elusive free car parking space in residential roads unlucky enough not to have a residents' parking scheme," she told the meeting. "I find the school run, shopping and general trips out in the car a complete nightmare. I have to park hundreds of yards from my front door, usually in the next road, and then bring my young daughters back and forth with me to the car to unload as I cannot leave them unattended in the house or the car. I have on many occasions had to pay to park in the central car park and then move my car back to my road after 6 pm. "To avoid paying the newly-risen 70p an hour car parking charge in the central car park, commuters, retail workers and shoppers use the road every day. Noticeably there is a very high usage by Waitrose employees, a neighbour counted seven different staff in seven different cars in one morning." When approached, said Mrs Farrow, Waitrose refused to accept it had a part in creating the parking nightmare. Vehicles parked on the single yellow lines in Sandringham road all day, she said, and when these were large vans, access was severely restricted. "These roads are no-through roads and fall within the Petersfield conservation area and yet it is alarming how much traffic flows along them in one day. It is only a matter of time before there is a serious accident," warned Mrs Farrow. Jim Colbert of Hylton Road told the meeting he had been part of a parking scheme for several years, but the problem for residents had not improved. In addition, since the building of Tesco, shoppers now parked in his road to avoid paying, and market traders parked there all day. "People who live in Petersfield are the lifeblood of the town. Why are we making it so difficult for these people to live in the town centre?" he asked. Martin Luke told the meeting that he had lived in Heath Road for 25 years. "Like our neighbours we have no drive and no garage," he said. "When we first bought our home we parked in the Festival Hall car park for nothing. When the pay and display was introduced it was £30 a year, which was not unreasonable. That has gone up by 1,000 per cent, the season ticket is now £560." He said he had appealed for a subsidised season ticket and been refused. And Woodbury Avenue resident David Jeffery said motorists double parking in his road, reducing the road width, were causing a danger to drivers entering and exiting the road from the Bell Hill direction. District councillor Bob Ayer told the meeting he had lived in Kimbers, off Tilmore Road, for 30 years. "It has basically became a big all-day free car park mainly for those who work in Petersfield," he said. County councillors Sam James and Michael Cartwright both said they would give their support to the residents. And district council leader Andrew Pattie also threw his weight behind their campaign. He said he would contact the county council's head of environment and also write to the leader of the county council. "I will be expecting an audience within the month to find out what came be done to speed up the process for these residents," he said. Residents were also asked to outline their problem to the transport working party of the Petersfield Tomorrow group, which is currently planning a vision of the town for the future.
