WORK BEGINS ON PARKING SCHEME IN ASHFORD TOWN CENTRE

WORK BEGINS ON PARKING SCHEME IN ASHFORD TOWN CENTRE

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Work aimed at making parking restrictions clearer in Ashford town centre’s Shared Space is currently underway.

Work begins on parking scheme in Ashford town centre

Work aimed at making parking restrictions clearer in Ashford town centre’s Shared Space is currently underway.

The work includes installing additional signage and road lining to mark out the disabled, loading and Pay & Display bays together with the taxi rank in Ashford’s Shared Space.

Ashford Borough Council is also making minor administrative amendments to the current Traffic Regulation Order, the administrative document which lays down parking and waiting regulations, which will be combined with proposals to:

• Reconfigure parking bays in East Street to take into account changes resulting from the new Latitude Walk housing development

• Extend the 'no waiting' restrictions along Gasworks Lane to protect access to the railway

• Minor alterations to the location of the loading bay fronting Oranges Public House, Godinton Road which should improve line of sight for vehicles entering and exiting Apsley Street and for pedestrians using the nearby crossing

• Shortening the loading bay outside Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Godinton Road to provide better line of sight for vehicles entering and exiting the access adjacent to Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Godinton House

Consultation on the amendments begin on 1st April and will end on 23rd April.

Paul Jackson, Head of Environmental Services explains, “We trust the long awaited work to mark the bays in Bank Street and elsewhere in the shared space will make things clearer for motorists.

“The alterations to the Traffic Order will complete these latest parking and loading regulations in the shared space and wider town centre.

“It is important to remember, however, that waiting and loading restrictions are in place within shared space despite the fact that there are no yellow lines.

“The shared space is covered by a ‘restricted parking zone’. This is a relatively new concept for controlling parking in environmentally sensitive areas where excessive lining and signing would be liable to have a negative impact on the visual aesthetic which Kent Highways has adopted for Ashford’s shared space.

“Their aim is that by turning the usual convention of using lining and signing to indicate where you can’t park on its head and simply indicating where you can park instead - the amount of visual clutter within the zone is considerably reduced.

“Once all these changes have been implemented the scheme will be monitored in line with normal practice.

For more information visit www.ashford.gov.uk/parking