Frank O’Neil has also criticised the decision by St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft to increase the annual cost of residents’ parking permits from £279 to £307.
The price of the permit increased last year from £254.
Mr O’Neil says that despite having a parking permit for Clearview Street, he cannot always find a space because other motorists regularly park in residents’ spaces.
He added that parents dropping off children and picking them up from Rouge Bouillon School were particularly problematic.
The 56-year-old said: ‘It is horrendous. Twice a day we’ve got the school traffic.
‘They take up all the spaces. You’re left to go round in circles.
‘I’m a musician and my busiest periods are at the weekend. I have a lot of stuff to take to and from my van, but I’ve no chance of parking at the weekend.’
Mr O’Neil also said that it was unfair to increase the price.
‘When I heard about the rise I was apoplectic. I don’t want to pay for it, period,’ he said.
‘It was a free-for-all before the residents’ parking scheme was implemented, but it’s a free-for-all now.
‘The only difference is that you have to pay for it.’
There are five parish wardens who are on patrol between 8 am and 10 pm who have the power to issue £30 fines.
However, Mr O’Neil says he does not believe there are enough wardens to enforce parking restrictions across the whole of St Helier, and he wants more to be done to discourage motorists flouting the rules.
He added: ‘I can’t remember the last time I saw a parish warden on the street.’
St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft defended the ten per cent rise for permit holders by saying that all St Helier ratepayers were subsidising the scheme. He added that he received ‘very few’ complaints about it.
‘We have 600 people with resident parking permits.
‘The cost of administrating the scheme is not covered by the money that they pay, even with the increase,’ he said.
‘Effectively, all St Helier rat payers are subsidising people who enjoy residents’ parking.’
Mr Crowcroft said that although some motorists flouted the rules, the price of a permit would increase even further if more wardens were hired to police the scheme.
‘We only have five parish wardens across town,’ he said. ‘They are stretched.
‘If I employed more, the price of the permit would go up. You can’t have your cake and eat it.’
From Sheelagh Le Cocq.
I AM absolutely disgusted to see that the Parish of St Helier have put up the cost of residents’ parking permits by ten per cent at this time when no one is receiving increases anywhere near this amount.
Wage earners are getting one per cent to two per cent, those on Social Security pensions or benefits the same, and people who are relying on their savings are lucky to get one per cent.
Where do they think we are going to get this money, especially for a scheme which is so flawed?
When the scheme was still in the planning stage I pointed out several problems, including that there was a complete lack of disabled bays in the whole area.
None were added to the scheme, which makes it very difficult for those who need them, especially when the area encompasses an area from St Mark’s Church to the Millennium Park – far too great a distance for a disabled person to walk.
The scheme has never been properly policed since its inception – it is abused every day.
If we had traffic wardens who did their jobs properly there would be no need to increase the cost to residents as the resultant fines would easily cover their wages.
In England, residents’ parking schemes are what they say – parking for residents of the area, not areas which encompass schools and commercial premises.
Most people who have permits have parking in their own street, not half a mile away, at a much cheaper price.
As to the cheek of asking for more money from us, we should be offered compensation for the inconvenience and disruption to our lives that we are being forced to endure with the road works in St Mark’s Road which have been going on for an extraordinarily long time with as many as 12 or 15 spaces out of use.
Since I am convinced that more permits have been sold than there are spaces, it makes it a game of musical spaces every single day, wasting hours of time and increasing the pollution from the horrendous traffic jams.
I have written before and filled in questionnaires but nothing has been done to improve the situation.
I would like to think that all the residents of the area would rise up and complain but we are held captive.
We cannot park elsewhere or buy our permits from Amazon or eBay. Please can the Constable, Simon Crowcroft, reconsider this iniquitous rise in fees which will hit the town residents very hard.
- Permits are available to anyone who lives within a Residents’ Parking Zone, has a Jersey-registered vehicle, and does not have off-street parking at their premises.
- A resident may not hold more than one permit at the same time.
- A permit is only valid for the vehicle for which it was issued and is not transferable to any other vehicle.
- The parish of St Helier administers the Residents Parking scheme on behalf of the Transport Minister. Application forms are available online here and from the Town Hall.
- Completed application forms must be submitted to customer services on the ground floor of the Town Hall, along with proof of residence, registration document for the vehicle and payment.
- If a vehicle is wider than 6’6″ (2 metres) and weighs more than 1600kgs, then the parish cannot issue a permit.
- There are limits to the number of permits issued in each zone, to ensure the probability of finding a parking space. As such, there is currently a waiting list in each of the zones due to their high popularity.
- Temporary Residents’ Permits are available for contractors employed to carry out works within the zones at a cost of £6 + GST per day.
- Paycard parking for visitors is available within the zones daily between 9 am and 10 pm. However, there is no visitor parking within the zone between 10 pm and 9 am.
- Visitor paycard parking within the zones is identified by roadside signage that also stipulates the periods parking is permitted.
- St Helier’s community support team regularly patrol the zones and are given additional support by St Helier’s honorary police, the roads’ inspectors and others.
