Fresh calls for Portsmouth-wide resident parking zones

Would you like to see a city-wide residents' parking zone?

The contentious issue was raised as one of three key ideas to help tackle parking congestion across Portsmouth in a cross-party workshop with councillors and residents earlier this year.

There are currently more than 30 resident parking zones in Portsmouth and it has been previously suggested to create a city-wide scheme or abolish them altogether.

Critics say that the zones just shift parking problems to other areas.

Following the workshop, councillors have agreed to send out the idea as part of a serious of proposals in a questionnaire later this year.

If it receives public packing, the scheme could be recommended for approval by the city council’s cabinet.

Councillor Steve Hastings, chair of the traffic, environment and community safety scrutiny panel, said: ‘This has always been a contentious issue for Portsmouth.

‘When you put a resident parking zone in place, you likely upset a lot of people and it is not always the right answer.

‘The right answer might be to have a whole scheme for the city or nothing at all. We do not know at the moment and each of the city’s districts present their own problems in terms of parking so it’s a complex issue to look at.

‘It might be a case where we implement a scheme which changes restrictions at certain times of the day.’

The Tory councillor, who was speaking after a panel meeting, encouraged as many people as possible to give their thoughts in the questionnaire, stating he wants ‘as much input as possible’ on the topic.

Liberal Democrat councillor Lee Hunt said at the meeting that the council needed to look at a whole scheme for the city or nothing at all.

He said: ‘It amazes me that there are not parking zones all across Portsmouth. If you look at London and other congested cities, they all have wide parking zone schemes and it leaves me wondering what makes Portsmouth so different.’

The two other key areas discussed at the meeting were to explore the idea of moving commercial vehicles away from residential roads and to gather further thoughts on limiting the impact of HMOs in regards to parking constraints.

The questionnaire will be predominately online-based, though residents will be able to get hold of a physical copy as well with the council putting out a number to ring.