COUNCIL OVERHAUL OF TOWN PARKING

West Lindsey District Council is looking to launch a residents' overnight parking scheme, which would allow townsfolk to use pay and display car parks after hours.

A study commissioned by the authority also recommended spending 200,000 on improvements to the multi-storey car park on Beaumont Street.

Phil Hinch, a licensing officer for the district council, said: "We needed a long-term strategy for car parking in the town and across West Lindsey as a whole and that is why we had to undertake this study.

"We are OK for the number of car parking spaces at the moment but you don't have to be a genius to realise that for every new housing development that springs up and the Marshalls Yard complex, those spaces will soon be soaked up."

The authority commissioned a study by consultant RTA Associates in October last year to gauge how car parking would be affected when many of town's new homes and the 37m retail and leisure park were completed.

Recommendations include a shopmobility scheme to improve access to town centre shops for disabled drivers and better parking at Gainsborough Old Hall.

The council was encouraged to take over responsibility for collecting parking fines from the police.

Coun Pat O'Connor, Lincolnshire County Council town ward member, backed the overhaul.

He said "I have campaigned for a residents parking scheme more than three years and I am pleased that the council is now moving in the right direction.

"It is always a contentious issue because households do have three or four cars now but I would like people to be able to park at least one car in their street."

The consultants claimed the town's multi-storey car park, which the authority currently rents from the Lincolnshire Co-operative Society, needed a raft of improvements including new lighting, wider bays, new signage and CCTV coverage.

But Donald Sweeting, former chairman of town think-tank, the Gainsborough Area Forum, questioned the potential cash injection.

"I think spending more money after bad is the wrong idea," he said.

"The car park is huge drain on council resources and the study has shown that residents are mostly happy with car parking in Gainsborough except for the multi-storey."

What do you think? What can be done to improve parking in Gainsborough? Write to The Standard at 5/7 Market Place, Gainsborough, DN21 2BP. Alternatively email us at [email protected]