Rochdale Council have commenced a consultation process regarding the introduction of a resident only parking scheme in the surrounding area of the Crown Oil Arena. They have asked those in the surrounding area and those further afield about whether they want to introduce such a scheme and whether they want it limited to times around our traditional kick off times.
We have great concerns about the proposed scheme, its impact on the Football Club and other local businesses in the locality, its impact on Dale supporters and the merits and suitability of such a scheme when historically it has been rejected.
Writing as a local resident and someone who lives within the affected area, there is no doubt that the Football Club does impact on parking and no one can dispute that. That is not the only thing that causes parking issues. Parking restrictions surrounding Meanwood Primary have resulted in parking issues with parents dropping children off on the other side of the road, and different areas within the proposed scheme are affected by the Little Day Spa and the wonderful Willbutts Lane Chippy. That’s the reality of 21st Century Life, and in difficult economic times, nobody would want to see anything that made life more difficult for successful local businesses.
The scheme involves restricting households within the proposed area to just one free parking permit and the option to purchase three visitor passes. This will ensure that many local people will be forced to pay the Council simply for parking outside their own house.
And the biggest reason against this is that it will do very little to restrict parking issues. It will simply see any perceived parking issues moved on further afield. Away supporters won’t stop travelling to Spotland because they have to park further away. So those residents outside of the affected area will see an increase in their own traffic issues. Those residents are part of the consultation, so if you are concerned about traffic now moving to your residence, please contact the council using the email below to voice your disapproval.
But it will impact on our supporters. We have already been made aware of elderly supporters who find it very difficult to get to the ground if they had to park further away. The choice for those supporters is simply can they attend or not, rather than can they park further away.
We met with local councillors with regards to this at an area forum last week. There were claims from them that the traffic situation has gotten worse around the ground since the last time this was proposed and rejected a few years ago, but given that we were then playing League One football at the time and crowds have deteriorated since those days, we didn’t agree with this at all.
And it will not just be the Football Club that will be affected. Both the aforementioned Willbutts Lane Chippy and the Little Day Spa will both be affected if they cannot have customers on Saturdays within the proposed timings.
We know that some local residents will welcome this. Ask anyone would they like their parking situation to be improved, then of course they will say yes. But the overall consequences of such a scheme will cause significantly more issues than is necessary.
We would urge any Dale supporter who is concerned about the proposed parking changes to contact the Council at highways@rochdale.gov.uk with “Spotland Area Residents Parking Zone” as the subject and if you live in an area that is within the proposed area or in the area that will be affected as a result, please give your address. The consultation process will finish on 30th June.
