Petition plea from residents 'left with nowhere to park' on West Bromwich street

Up to 36 residents who live in Dartmouth Street have petitioned Sandwell council for designated parking spaces on a section of their road.

They say cars are left ‘dumped’ on their road leaving them with nowhere to park.

Raj Duggal, the head petitioner who lives in Dartmouth Street, claimed the council was not listening to residents.

He said the council had advised him to close the original petition during a meeting in October, claiming there is “not enough space to allow each property at least one parking permit”.

Mr Duggal told councillors in the meeting he previously petitioned for designated parking spaces for 40 properties on a section of Dartmouth Street, whereas the council noted 51 houses requested parking spaces.

Sandwell council previously told the petitioners: “The on-street space available along Dartmouth Street, allowing the recommended six metres per vehicle for pulling in and out of the parking space, equates to 26 parking spaces.

"There are 38 properties along the southeast side of Dartmouth Street and 13 along the north-west side. There is not enough space to allow each property at least one parking permit.

“Therefore a residents permit parking scheme would not be recommended for this location due to site constraints as additional parking spaces cannot be created to accommodate all cars belonging to residents.

"The head petitioner has been advised. It is to close the petition.”

Mr Duggal claimed the council was basing its rules on a 20-year-old road parking policy, and alleged the rule “does not work”.

He said: “While this rule seems outdated to me, it was brought into effect here there would have been no need for parking permits as there was sufficient room for everybody twenty years ago.

“Since then Sandwell council have approved a whole new estate consisting of 100 or so houses and apartments on in the years since. At the back of our house, there are apartments at Creed Way with insufficient parking, this metre per vehicle was not approved then, so why us?”

“It’s okay to quote this rule, so then why build and approve these properties with zero parking?”

Robin Weare, highways service manager for Sandwell council, said: “Even though some of properties might not have car parking spaces, new residents could move in with cars. Sometimes properties have more than one car. If we put a residents parking scheme in, it will be one space per property.

“It will be 26 spaces for 51 properties – it’s no where near enough.”

Mr Duggal said inconsiderate drivers who park on their streets leave some residents to park two or three streets away from their property.

He added some vehicles are left for days at a time, and with yellow lines on the other side of the road, means some drivers are left with no choice but to park elsewhere.

He referenced a time in 2016 where council road workers had to tarmac around a parked car after an inconsiderate motorist dumped it on a closed Dartmouth Street.

The car was left stranded  surrounded by freshly laid tarmac, and while road workers waited a day for the car to be moved, they eventually towed it away the following day so they could tarmac over the spot.

Mr Duggal told the meeting he has got parking tickets by the council despite having a disability badge. “I can’t get up at 8am to move my car. I get no space anyway. Even if you have a disabled parking bay it doesn’t matter because people park regardless.

“People are getting stressed over this, Fighting over parking spaces. Something bad will happen if this is not sorted.”

Councillor Danny Millard said the council was “empathetic” to Mr Duggal’s situation, but said the council “couldn’t go forward in this petition”.

He said: “We really have tried. I’ve tried, [councillor Ahmed] tried, we can’t go forward in terms of this petition. We really can’t. What we have committed to is that we will both come down and we will both have a look at the street to see if there is something we can do to help.

“The rules are fairly clear, and something we might have to look at. It won’t come across as a positive. The road generally does work. It’s one of those things.”

A Sandwell council spokesperson said: “The council will look at the concerns raised by residents in the petition and report the findings and recommendations back to the petitions committee.”