Trying to make sense of parking issues in the Naunton Park Area

The County Council has been carrying out a review of parking in Cheltenham. The review is split into 4 areas of the town - North, South, East and West. The review started off in the East area and moved on to the South of the town more recently. Streets in the Naunton Park area fell into 2 different zones in the Southern Area.

One zone was called the Naunton Zone, bounded by Bath Road/Leckhampton Road to the west and running from there east to Naunton Lane. The second zone was a much smaller area called the Naunton Park Zone which included Naunton Park Road and Whitecross Square. Residents in these areas were sent a questionnaire asking about parking issues in their area. The result from residents in the Naunton Zone was a fairly resounding 'No' to new residents parking schemes.

However, when I looked at the survey results there were none for the Naunton Park Zone. To be clear about what was going on in this area I have had a meeting with one of the county officers organising the review. Also, along with colleagues, I recently called on residents to see if they had received the survey that had been delivered to them.

It seems that some local people did not receive the survey - they were delivered in unaddressed brown envelopes along with junk mail and so it may have been that people did not realise they had been sent a survey. As there were not many responses from the Naunton Park Zone the County officers concluded that there is not any parking issues in the area. However, I know from speaking with local people there do seem to be issues with commuter parking that some residents would like addressed.

I have said to County Officers that I would like more work to be done in the Naunton Park Zone and they have agreed to this but at the moment I am not sure what form this will take. In the meantime it would be really helpful if you could spare a few moments to visit the County Council’s website at www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/parking and click the link which says ‘Talk to us’ to give your views on parking in the area. Alternatively please feel free to contact me directly.