Park-&-Ride and ‘The Bollard That Never Rises’

A Letter to the Editor from Richard INESON, reporting on the nonsense of the Whitby Park-&-Ride proposals and the world-renowned “Bollard That Never Rises”.

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Dear Mr Editor,

The first and last part of the following email response answers questions about the 2006 parking scheme for the east side, which was rejected but later incorporated in the Park-&-Ride scheme, where it lies waiting to be implemented, without further consultation, and will provide only 63 spaces for the entire east side residents/commercials/visitors/holidaymakers, holiday cottages, and only I seem to realise this.

The second part is about the ‘bollard which never rises’ – laughable, if it wasn’t so expensive.

People have been enquiring about the costs of the ‘bollard which never rises’, so I’ve been down in the cobwebbed bowels of my computer and here is the result.

You will be pleased to know that the ‘bollard which never rises’ has two telephone lines, this is because there was an argument/conflict of opinion, as to who should be in control of the controls – Highways or Police.

The only sensible solution was that the public should pay for two telephone lines, which have, of course, never been used.

The bill, will have increased somewhat since my last enquiry on the 14.09.10. but it is nice to know that the bollard need never feel alone on those dark winter’s nights on St.Anne’s Staithe.

It’s good to keep in touch.

Yours, etc

Richard

Richard Ineson. Whitby. 16th July 2011.

Dear Mr Ineson,

Further to your recent request for information.

To answer each of the points in turn, the consultation was undertaken as part of the implementation of the Whitby Town Centre Traffic Management Strategy which was carried out by the Council’s then Consultants, Mouchelparkman and total cost for the whole of the scheme for The Ropery, Church St, St Mary Cres, Cpt Cook Cres & the then new Harrison Development was £16,474.69. Unfortunately it is not possible to separate the cost of the consultation from the other fees which covered other work such as site surveys, design etc., as these were included in monthly accounts but not separately identified.

The total cost of the rising bollard on St Anne’s Staithe/Pier Road was £15,841.28 including design, installation, drainage and telemetry.

We do not have any figures relating to the costs of maintenance for thebollard since installation, other than £1,231.90 paid in BT Charges.

With regard to the inclusion of the east side of Whitby in the proposals for parking controls in the centre of Whitby, the context of the two sets of proposals are different. In 2006 the proposed scheme was to introduce a residents parking regime on the east side of Whitby
only in an effort to alleviate the problem of congestion. In the proposal of 2010 the east side of Whitby was included as part of a broader, more comprehensive package of proposals for parking controls across the centre of the town. To have excluded that area would have
resulted in many visitors seeking a car space on that side of the river because it would have not been restricted by any control orders only by the laws of supply and demand.

If a Park and Ride facility is to be successful it is important that it is part of a comprehensive parking strategy otherwise it is unlikely that visitors will use it. This requires the management of parking in the town which the park and ride serves and balancing the cost of
parking in town with the use of the facility. The omission of a part of that town from the parking strategy would result in visitors seeking spaces which are not subject to any charge or control. Consequently, the east side of Whitby was included in the proposals for the residents’ parking zones.

Yours sincerely

Daniel Taylor
Network Strategy Administration Team
Business and Environmental Services