7:22 am, May 30, 2013
A BRISTOL-based car dealer which employs 75 staff and has 60 customers a day has been offered just two parking spaces under new council rules.
Wessex Garages, which holds a Nissan franchise, has been offered just two spaces as part of a Bristol residents’ parking zone – despite being a employer of a large number of people in the city.
According to the Bristol Post, staff members who drive to work and customers who bring their car in for servicing and routine maintenance may no longer be able to do so thanks to the new parking zone.
Wessex Garages’ managing director Keith Brock says he’s been left with no option but to take legal action, after repeatedly trying to contact the local council by himself and by employing Bristol firm Transport Planning Associates to do so too.
The business, which has been based on the same site in Pennywell Road for two decades, may now have to move out of the area due to the new parking zone.
The parking zones have been created under the mayorship of George Ferguson in an attempt to reduce congestion in the city by stopping commuters parking in residential streets during the day.
Brock told the Bristol Post: ‘I see where George (Ferguson) is coming from – we do need to reduce congestion in the city. But it’s the way it is being railroaded through that doesn’t seem right.
‘We employed TPA when we first heard about the scheme, as I thought it would be the best way to represent our case to the council.
‘On the back of the council not replying to them or me, and with time running out, I have appointed solicitors Osborne Clarke.
‘I have resorted to asking them to look into how the council has consulted, because they (the council) will not engage with me or TPA to work on an alternative.
‘The one reply I had from the council said that they would only meet with me after the RPZ (Resident Parking Zones) had been put into force – by then it would be too late.’
The new resident parking zones right across the city are believed to be costing £10m.
Brock said he is encouraging his staff to cycle to work and is installing showers for their conveinence.
‘We have been here for 20 years and have grown and prospered, and that’s hopefully what the mayor wants for Bristol businesses,’ Brock went on to say.
‘All of a sudden, in the last 12 weeks, being based here has become a disaster.’
Mayor Ferguson added: ‘The whole point of the RPZs is to reduce the number of commuters parking on the streets and to reduce congestion from commuter traffic.
‘It is wrecking our air quality and clogging up the roads. I’m afraid Mr Brock’s staff are contributing to that problem.’
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