NEW parking restrictions on the hill leading down to Plémont Beach Café will ‘cause havoc’ in the area, the business’s owner has warned.
Paul McDermott spoke after the Infrastructure Department introduced yellow lines from the top of the hill down to the lower parking area in an effort to improve road access for beachgoers and the emergency services.
Mr McDermott said he was not consulted on the changes and estimated that the new restrictions, which were implemented in the past few days, had resulted in the loss of up to 20 spaces and left the café with only nine marked parking bays, which, he said, would have a huge impact.
‘People were able to park the whole way down before and there was already a struggle for spaces, but they have completely killed it now,’ he said.
He added that while he understood the importance of emergency vehicles needing access, there were other options – such as widening the road – that could have avoided the loss of parking.
‘What’s really upsetting is that no one came and spoke to me. It is going to cause havoc down here. It’s not just about the café, it’s also the public, as it’s going to start putting people off.
‘We have a lot of elderly people who like to drive down and now they are going to worry if they can get parking. It’s really going to annoy all of the surfers as well,’ he said.
St Ouen Centenier Paul Battrick said: ‘The reason for this is that there have been many occasions when the access for emergency vehicles has been blocked.’
He added that the parish ‘was fully consulted’.
A government spokesperson said: ‘Parking on the hill in areas without passing spaces was causing problems for beachgoers and locking up the road. More importantly, it was preventing access for emergency services.’
Mr McDermott said he suspected the busy half-term period was partially responsible for the changes.
‘It was booming – the sun was out, the puffins had arrived and it got really busy, but then after a couple of weeks it quietened down a bit,’ he said.
‘The impact will be massive.
‘We could have sat down and talked about it, but nobody said why it was being done because nobody approached us.’
