Anger over parking changes

RESIDENTS furious that they could lose car parking spaces outside their homes have launched a campaign to stop more double yellow lines being introduced in their town.

Campaigners at Stowmarket are now calling a public meeting and have launched a petition, angry at plans to introduce the yellow lines in Crown Street, Cardinalls Road and Regent Street.

Families say the plans will mean parking for well in excess of 100 cars will be lost and with many families living in terraced homes with no other parking, will cause chaos.

There is also a proposal to have restricted parking from 8am to 6pm on the west side of Newton Road, with a single yellow line on this street.

Campaigner Rosie Carter, a Cardinalls Road resident, said: “I do not know how we will cope if we have nowhere else to put our cars.

“This seems to be being rushed through without proper consultation. This will also affect people's house prices, if they lose parking. Why can't people park outside their houses? This is just mad.”

But a spokeswoman for Suffolk County Council, the highways authority, said that while there will be some loss in parking for residents, the authority did not believe it would be as much as residents fear.

She said: “The proposals which are now being advertised have come from residents, councillors and the emergency services, and have been discussed at length with councillors and the town council for the past two years, before being advertised. These are just proposals.”

Copies of the petition are available to sign at the Crown pub or Regent Street Fish and Chip Shop and letters can be written to Heather Miller (Legal Services), Suffolk County Council, Endeavour House, 8 Russell Road

Ipswich, Suffolk, IP1 2BX by November 27.

The public meeting is being held at the Social Resource Centre in Crown Street on Friday November 21 from 7pm. For further details, or to help campaigners, call Mike and Rosie Carter on 01449 677497 or e-mail at rosiej.carter@virgin.net