Seven new residents’ parking schemes for the streets of Exeter have been endorsed by local councillors, but they struggled to agree on what order to do them in.
“These are all the right proposals, but not necessarily in the right order,” said city council leader Phil Bialyk.
Members of the Exeter highways and traffic orders committee (HATOC) agreed on the seven schemes in which local residents will get priority for parking spaces, but wrangled over the order.
Some councillors wanted to tackle areas which would be easiest to deliver while others favoured schemes backed by the most people during a public consultation.
There were calls for another working party to work on the priorities, but Cllr Andrew Leadbetter (Con, Wearside and Topsham) warned: “It could be decades before we get to the end of this list.”
Cllr Paul Knott (Lab, Exwick) said the proposals for New Valley Road had first been proposed in 2020. “There is a clear demand for it,” he said, pointing out a case where a carer had been unable to deliver medication without double parking and blocking the road.
Cllr Tony Stevens (Reform, Exwick and St Thomas) warned that introducing residents’ parking would merely shift parking problems to other parts of the city, but Cllr Bialyk said: “It’s good to see something happening at long last.”
Councillors argued over the priority order for the schemes, but chairman Michal Mitchell (Lib Dem, Duryard and Pennsylvania) told them: “This isn’t a competitive sport – it’s about responding to the needs of numerous communities.”
Some of the proposals dated back nine years, he said, which was ‘six Prime Ministers ago’.
The city’s parking needs were increasing, he said, with university student numbers now close to 40,000 and the number of houses in multiple occupation also increasing.
He called on councils to put more resources into the parking reviews.
In the end it was decided that parking schemes in Cotfield Street and New Valley Road will be at the top of the list, followed by Sweetbriar Lane, Southbrook Road, Heraldry Way, Stoke Valley Road and the Heavitree/Polsloe area.
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