Forum for residents of St Georges Park and Long Leys Road Lincoln

[Stacys]

Has anyone else noticed the lack of clear pathways due to residents parking? Having recently began walking around the estate its become increasingly more frustrating as alot of residents have taken it upon themselves to use the footpath as a second driveway. I understand people like to keep there cars out of harms way(why not use a garage) but parking 3/4 on the path is down right selfish.
It probably wouldn't have frustrated me too much, but now I'm walking with a pushchair I'm now having to use the roads to negotiate my walk around the estate.
A couple of nights ago all paths between Berildon and Manrico were impossible to walk down on both sides due to households adopting the footpaths, thus meaning we had to walk along the road!!
I just hope their are no children trying to navigate the estate, I hope people change their ways before something terrible happens.

Also, since when was it judged safe to park right on the corner of a crossroad, its seems that because we're on a housing estate drivers don't have to follow the Highway Code.

Also some residents are using public grassways as private car parking space, does this not frustrate anyone else?

Am I turning into Victor Meldrew or is it an issue to anyone else?

[iggy]

yes it does me as well as i some times have to walk with a stick it is very hard to get passed some of the cars ,and im sure if somebody gets there car marked all hell will happen
as you say also i think its about time the LLRA are asked to contact somebody who could put a note on the a note on the cars /vans that are dangerous, as for parking on cross roads this must be stopped as there is going to be somebody getting hurt very soon

[steve51]

several months ago i did ask about the usefulness of the bus stop on Carram Way. This used to be used for car parking, keeping cars off the verges and the pathways. didn't receive a very enthusiastic response to my request to have it returned to a parking bay, even though the bus never actually stops there. as i said at the time, the driver will quite happily drop people off wherever they like on Carram.
Now, i realise this doesn't solve the problem on Manrico etc. but it would help in some small way to aleviate the problem on Carram. The real problem of course is too many cars, not enough drive/garage spaces.
am i on my own again with this one?

[iggy]

im with you steve it is a waste not to use it for cars at night

[deb]

Well I would refer you to the bus timetable again but someone has removed all the notices in the bus shelter including those. However, as Ian says, there are no buses at night and I think they stop early evening so probably OK for the layby to be used for homecoming workers rather than daytime visitors. I HATE seeing anything on the grass verges, it leaves divets, kills the grass and the estate as a whole looks unsightly. Where the workmen are, they have assured me that they will be re landscaped but if this parking is from residents then how can you make someone see the damage when they obviously have no respect for their or others surroundings? I don't think the LLRA should put notes on their cars why can't anyone do so? The LLRA have no authority they are more a body for dealing with big bodies like councils etc. A polite flyer perhaps? Always a difficult one, more often than not people hate to have their faults pointed out!

[john shipton]

Residents had similar problems on Westleys Croft but not that severe which is happening on St Georges.
As the roads and footpaths have not yet been adopted by Lincolnshire County Council, the police would not get involved as the roads and footpaths remain the responsibity of DW Homes (and Persimmons?).
When I was walking up Manrico Drive recently to the steps to Higson Road, two motorists were seen parking half on the footpath and half on the road. Then they went into their homes. They totally ignored my expressions and not approving of how they parked. So I can assume that the situation is becoming a "free for all" and damn the consequences.
Parking has become a nightmare on the main roads which motorists use on St Georges.
The bay which has been painted yellow for the bus, local residents should be able to use it after the last bus each evening and on Sundays when buses are not running. Common sense should prevail over this! DW Homes plans shows that this inward bay should be used for the bus. But remember, PC Coaches is a privately run bus company and whether their buses use it, remains to be seen. The bay is only designated. However, if the main bus company for Lincoln (called Stagecoach) used it for their buses if they decided to have a bus route, then this will be a different kettle of fish. But Lincolnshire Road Car used to run buses on the St Georges Hospital route, gave the route up as it was not cost effective. And of course, the company was taken over by Stagecoach.
Perhaps local residents can get together and issue a flyer about the problems of parking and solutions. There are a number of residents who don't support the vision of an Urban Village and facilities, so getting the LLRA involved would be unwise and not acceptable.
Perhaps too, residents who have a concern about parking, could take the lead by delivering the flyer and talking to neighbours and residents afterwards for the way forward. How people wish to park should be not a free for all (anarchy of parking) where anything goes. It must be avoided and is not an option before accidents occur whether on the roads or on the footpaths.
Hopefully, common sense will be used and folk will start thinking about others who live within the community regarding the problems of parking.

[GDStimson]

I'm all in favour of the bus stopping in the bus stop - I can see it from my office window and can assure you it does actually get used, most notably for what looks like an afternoon rest stop when it might otherwise just park on the road - however, I'm also all in favour of the obvious common sense in using the bus stop for "out of hours" car parking.

To precis a previous thread:

Deb has ascertained the official view from Sgt Coates, which is:-

"It is an offence to park in the bus stop at any time now if it is double yellow lined. If it is single lined it will have a sign nearby saying when the parking restriction is in place. The penalty would be a parking ticket of £30. It is likely if a car is parked there in contravention of the parking restriction it could be ticketed."

Our stop is only single yellowed, so all we're lacking a few quids worth of "sign nearby" letting us know when we can park in it.

On a less useful note, I've absolutely no idea how one would go about getting the correct signage put up.

Regards to all
Gary

[john shipton]

Gary:

It may be worth it to contact Dave Underwood, the Highways Officer at Lincolnshire County Council who is responsible for St Georges, for his advice and be pointed in the right direction.
It may be an advantage to contact David Wilson Homes too regarding this to find out if signage is their responsiblity before the roads and footpaths are finallly adopted by County Hall.
Another enquiry in this process is to find out who will be responsible for repainting the yellow road bus signage when it fades. I have been told that such signage only lasts about five years before the lettering begins to break up.
The white warning symbols painted on the speed restriction bumps on Mitchell Drive on Westleys Croft are already fading and breaking up since they were put down a few years ago. Highways are responsible for this since the roads and footpaths were adopted by County Hall.

John.

[SteveW]

On Carram Way after 6 years of base course, raised ironworks, realigned kerbs, upgraded hardcore sub base, core samples, more new kerbs, restructured crossfalls and even more base & wearing course it would be nice to think all the estate roads would be fit for adoption within the next 6 months at the very latest!!!

Mind if you think we have had it bad, what about the poor soles around the corner in the Westbury part, their road needs building up over 12 inches (300mm) before they can even consider bringing that to an acceptable level.

[iggy]

yes i agree with you on that one i think about the state of the roads on the westbury every time i drive into the estate . i was told at a meeting at city hall back in feb /march time that that persimmons had agreed to reconstruct the roads and get them to the standard ready for adoption. why has this work not started . perhaps somebody would like to ask the elected members for this area at city hall to get this sorted after all it was one of them who stated that it was going to happen IN THE FIRST PLACE .but as normal just as you think all the roads are complete. the heavy plant will turn up to reconstruct these roads and the drains that overflow its called PLANNING OF WORK !!!! OR IS IT LACK OF PLANNING?????? or is it IS IT SOMEBODY AT LCC SAYING ITS ONLY ST GEORGES IT DOES NOT MATTER

[john shipton]

I have sent an e-mail to one of our local councillors called Helen Heath.
Below is a copy to folk to see.

1st August 2007

Helen:

See below regarding part of the discussion going on the St Georges web site. I have copied this and pasted for you to see.
It is concerning the properties built by Westbury which is now Persimmons and the roads and footpaths that lie within the boundary. These roads and footpaths are behind the frontage of St Georges Park, off Long Leys Road. The roads and footpaths should have been rectified some time ago but nothing is being done by Persimmons to do the remedial work. They remain in a poor state and there are safety issues to those who use them. It appears Persimmons is not responding to complaints and since leaving the site, consider doing the work is not a priority.
Again Planning at City Hall seem to ignore the residents plight and complaints too. For the emphasis is on the developer to carry out this work. But the problem arising is how does one or residents get this remedial work done, how long does it take and why was it not done in the first place.
So as a local councillor how can you help in the matter in getting the work to be completed. For it appears that with Lincoln City Council, this is not an urgent matter for them to get involved.
Local residents are getting fed up in being pushed from pillar to post and getting nowhere in the process.
Thanks for your help since becoming one of our councillors.
I have not included Neil Murray and Karen Lee for I have been told they are not available being away from Lincoln. Perhaps you might like to copy them in on action taken.
With regards.

John.

[squeak]

After a (large) number of queries directly to Persimmons I received an email last week from a senior engineer stating that Persimmons have signed the section 38 agreement with the council and are simply waiting to appoint a contractor to undertakes the works. Unfortunately no indication of timescal. It will be interesting to see if the same story emerges from our councillor.

[GDStimson]

Hello

I fired off emails to the City and County councils yesterday to see what the process is for getting that missing sign which would allow "out of hours" parking in the bus stop.

I'll post anything useful that comes back and also feed it into the LLRA.

Regards
Gary

[GDStimson]

Hello all

A little bit of good news.

Dave Underwood, senior Highways Officer at the County Council has responded positively to my enquiry. Not only has he explained what needs to be done, he's also done it!

The upshot is PC Coaches only need the bus stop 6am to 6pm (presumably Mon-Sat), so Dave has instructed David Wilson to put the appropriate signage in place to "release" the bus stop for evening parking.

Hope that's useful to some of you.

Regards
Gary

[iggy]

well done