PARK OFF
We were fed up of drivers using our street ‘as a car park’ – so we hit back with DIY revenge
"The situation has become worse and worse"
A GROUP of residents have clubbed together to dish out DIY revenge as they claim drivers use their street and pavements "as a car park".
Locals have taken the law into their own hands after eight months of campaigning and called for a "targeted blitz" against offenders.
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Homeowners on Mill Road in Cambridge have been complaining about an alleged spate of anti-social parking since November.
They claim that motorists are parking illegally on the pavement in busy shopping areas.
The campaign group Mill Road 4 People furiously documents alleged instances of illegal parking and is pressing the council to take greater enforcement action.
According to a Freedom of Information Request, the council issued 301 tickets on the road last year but campaigners say not enough is being done.
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Katie Hawks, the group's vice-chair, told Cambridgeshire Live: "Although Cllr Richard Howitt... applied for funding for bollards and planters back in December, nothing has yet been forthcoming and repeated requests for updates remain unanswered.
The County Council should be ashamed
Paul Lythgoe
"Like most local people, we are fed up with our pavements being turned into car parks."
Deciding to take action themselves, Mill Road 4 People have now installed a wooden planter with a no parking symbol on the front at an "illegal parking hotspot" on the street.
While it does not have legal force, they hope that the installation will deter drivers from stopping nearby.
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Ms Hawks went on: "This simple planter was made entirely from re-used materials.
"It’s a cost-effective and attractive way to stop pavement parking, and the County Council could easily work with local groups to put more where they are needed."
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The chair of the group, Paul Lythgoe, added: "The County Council should be ashamed that local residents are resorting to doing their work for them.
"Over the last few years, the situation on Mill Road has become worse and worse."
A Cambridgeshire County Council spokesperson said: "A Local Highway Improvement (LHI) application to introduce planters/bollards to combat pavement parking on Mill Road will be considered at the September meeting of our Highways and Transport Committee.
"Our civil parking enforcement officers currently patrol Mill Road and the surrounding streets several times each day, issuing fines for unlawful parking.
"Pavement parking on Mill Road is not in itself unlawful. However, fines can be issued when a vehicle is parked next to yellow lines, even if the vehicle is fully on the pavement.
"Any vehicles that are causing an obstruction can be reported to the police.”
It comes after a lawyer revealed why some speed limit signs are green and what you have to do when you see one.
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