Chippenham residents-only parking in Flowers Yard get boost

A resident of Flowers Yard in Chippenham recently submitted a Highway Improvement Request for some form of residents’ parking scheme on the street, to tackle 15 years of frustration.

They claimed that locals are “unable to park anywhere near their properties” due to visitors to the town centre leaving their cars on the road to avoid paying to use nearby car parks.

At a meeting of the Chippenham Town Council planning committee on Thursday, January 4, councillors backed the plans despite some objections to the scheme.

Cllr Matthew Short said: “I personally think we should put it forward because we represent the residents.

“It may be part of a wider picture of parking being displaced but there is a process, it can be done for one road, so from an objective point of view there’s no reason really why we shouldn’t put it forward.”

Flowers Yard (Image: Newsquest)

The committee voted to put the proposal forward to the Chippenham Local Highways and Footpaths Improvement Group with their support, despite some opposition.

This decision came despite a vote to reject a similar scheme for St Mary Street last August.

Cllr David Poole said: “Emotions always run high when we’re talking about parking in the centre of Chippenham… Wiltshire Council hasn’t done us any favours by putting up the parking charges.

“If you grant residents’ parking in one area you push a problem to other streets and create problems elsewhere, so it’s really an all or nothing in Chippenham.

“I firmly believe residents’ parking in the centre of Chippenham is a waste of time, I don’t think you’ll get residents to support this, and you’ll just push parking problems from one street to another.”

The Highway Improvement Request, submitted by an unidentified resident, argued that people living in Flowers Yard have been impacted by others parking on the road for the last 15 years.

Flowers Yard (Image: Trevor Porter)

They added that the situation is “going from bad to worse” with many visitors to The Arc also using the street.

The proposal would need to go through a lengthy process in order to be approved and put into action.

This would include 50 per cent of residents filling out a form and a majority of respondents being in favour of the scheme, which may have to be partially funded by locals.

Cllr Short warned that this “difficult” process could take years to complete.