Furious Ancoats residents have put up SPIKES up to stop ‘disgraceful’ parking outside their houses.
After launching a petition to call on the council to solve parking problems on Weybridge Road earlier this month, residents have taken matters into their own hands.
It comes after United Utilities workers asked motorists to remove their cars from a grass verge in order to carry out necessary repairs to pipes. The Manchester Evening News understands that work did not start as scheduled yesterday (March 30).
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Residents also fear for the safety of road users, Jaime Lightbowne said. “It’s an accident waiting to happen,” the 36-year-old mum added.
“I want to stop people getting hurt rather than waiting for someone to get hurt.
“A mixture of neighbours have built the fence. Someone put some of the sticks up and others said ‘we will have a go at putting it up too’.”
Jaime added that as of 2:15pm on Thursday she had seen ‘no sign’ of United Utilities staff. The M.E.N. contacted the water company to find out why, but no reply was received at the time of writing.
The Weybridge Road row has exploded into view in recent months, with Liberal Democrat campaigner and resident Chris Northwood saying some vehicles have been vandalised.
“It’s become a flashpoint,” she said. “Some have had windows smashed, and people leave cones out to stop people parking outside their house.”
Labour councillors in the area agree the situation is ‘disgraceful’. Couns Irene Robinson and Majid Dar said in a joint statement: “Parking down Weybridge Street and the surrounding area is disgraceful and we share residents' anger on it.
“It makes it harder to drive down the street and wrecks the grass. We've been fighting for more funding to combat this and last year Majid Dar secured an expansion of the Eastlands parking scheme, so we can tackle this head on.”
Jaime said that since launching the petition, council officers have promised to look at ‘enforcement’. She went on: “Nothing concrete has come from the council, only because they are waiting for feedback from the Eastlands parking scheme before putting plans forward for the Ancoats one for consultation. Officers have said though that they will speak to enforcement about short-term and long-term things.”
When the petition was launched, a spokesperson from Manchester council said: "Funding has been secured by the council to develop a residents' parking scheme in Ancoats and New Islington, a project the Council remains committed to.
“This project is currently in the early stages of development, with data being collected on how residents and businesses use this area. It is important that engagement takes place to ensure the type and frequency of parking issues caused by out of area vehicles can be thoroughly assessed and understood.
“When the time comes the Council would encourage all residents to make their views known so that the final scheme is best suited to their needs."
They added that the council was ‘limited in regards to enforcement’ due to the lack of double yellow lines or parking bays in the area.
“The council has on several occasions lobbied central government to give greater powers to local authorities to allow problematic parking, such as the kind on display in Ancoats, can be properly addressed,” they added.
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