As you may be aware, we have recently undertaken a parking survey of the main shopping areas within Bridge of Allan. We are now in a position to share the result of the survey with you together with our conclusions and recommendations. This report will be presented at our meeting on a Tuesday 15th May at 7.30pm in the Allan Centre. We wished to share the results in advance of our meeting.

 

The matter of parking was raised with the Community Council by a small number of merchants seeking support to increase parking regulation time on Henderson Street.  

 

Given the value we place on our thriving high street, we were keen to listen to the concerns raised and consider a range of options and solutions that would continue to uphold the high throughput of trade and visitors to the village whilst meeting the needs of all stakeholders (merchants, residents, visitors, etc).

 

In addition to the survey, we have spoken with individuals and organisations impacted by some of the options to understand further their concerns. We have also conducted some analysis on the Henderson Street parking spaces and reviewed the usage of the Fountain Road/co-op car park.

 

It is fair to say that the subject of parking is a highly emotive issue and many varying views are held in this regard. In relation to increasing the waiting time to 60 minutes on Henderson Street, the survey did not provide a clear cut response with 38.9% supporting an increase on one side (only 30% of merchants supporting this option). It should be noted on 21 merchants responded to the survey which conclusions could be drawn from itself. This together with the analysis of the reduction in potential parking spaces (currently 880 parking opportunities on Henderson Street which would be significantly reduced if waiting times are increased to 60 minutes), the Community Council are of the opinion to retain the existing waiting time of 30 minutes. We believe the slight gain potentially achieved for some merchants is outweighed by the disadvantage it would bring to others.

In relation to on-street parking on Fountain Road outside the post office, we are recommending the maintenance of the existing 30-minute waiting time. Over 70% of respondents supported this option.

With regards to restricting the waiting time to a maximum of 3 hours in the Fountain Road car park (immediately adjacent to the Co-op) whilst there was a majority of support for doing this, a number of significant issues were raised by a number of stakeholders. These are outlined in the attached report. Also given that we would be recommending to maintain the existing short stay arrangements on Henderson Street, we do not believe it is advantageous to restrict the main public car park.

With regards to charging, the Community Council are not in support of introducing charging for parking.

We will be recommending improved signage to our car parks and will work with Stirling Council to implement this.

We are acutely aware that these recommendations will be met with a degree of dissatisfaction from some merchants whilst welcomed by others.  We as a Community Council believe we have conducted an open and fair consultation and gathered from 619 respondents a wide and varied range of views to inform our conclusion.

We would like to thank everyone who contributed to this consultation and who supports the efforts of the Community Council.

Yours faithfully,

Mike Watson

Chair – Bridge of Allan Community Council

Parking Survey Report (Final)