What is the problem?

During working hours Monday to Friday a large number of cars and vans are now parking on the The Groves. In the main these cars and vans belong to a mix of...
  • Staff from the hospitals as an alternative to paying to use the hospitals own carparks (including the big new multi-storey on Hathersage Road).
  • Contractors vehicles from the building work at the hospitals and other local sites. Until recently there was a map on the NHS trust website indicating free on-street parking in the area. This has now been taken down. The hospital charges its contractors to park on its site, so they come here.
  • Visitors to the hospitals. Again as a free alternative to paying at the hospital carparks. Unlike the above groups who park all day, these only stay for a couple of hours.

What does this mean for the people who live here?

There isn't room for this many extra vehicles on our streets. Look at the photo pages.
  • Residents are often unable to park their cars in front of or near their homes... and it rains a lot in Manchester!
  • Carers for some of our elderly having to park elsewhere and walk in to make daily visits.
  • Minibuses and ambulances making calls for other elderly residents and children having difficulty getting in and out. Sometimes they have to park at the end of the street and send someone down to collect the person they have come for.
  • The fire brigade have told us that attending an incident on the Groves during the day, Monday to Friday, would be extremely difficult.
  • Deliveries of catalogues, goods from shops, parcels etc are hampered and can block the street completely.
  • The refuse collectors have asked us take our bins to the end of the Groves for collection as they are having problems getting their lorry down the streets.

A Brief Time of History...

This has been a problem since the introduction of a residents parking scheme on Carmoor Road early in 2007. Many of the houses on Carmoor Road have off-road parking - none of ours do. Groves residents were not consulted in the planning of the scheme as our streets were not included in it. We found out about it by accident a few months before it was implemented and took the matter up with our local Councillors. This was after several requests for information by phone and email to Manchester City Council's Engineering Services and Councillor Neil Swannick, Executive Member for Planning and Environment, were ignored. Our Councillors assured us such schemes were thoroughly researched and there would be little, if any, effect on the Groves. Wrong! Since then, a number of appeals to our Councillors have led to them raising the matter at recent Ward Coordination meetings. This has resulted to date in absolutely nothing happening here on the ground.

In July 2008 at a public meeting, the Council agreed to a Reseidents’ Parking Scheme. However, this will take at least a year to implement. We have been exploring getting some vehicles moved onto a nearby mostly empty carpark as a short-term remedy. Check the blog for up to date news.

Top