Half of streets vote against Olympic residents parking

Parts of Cornwall Street in Grangetown could become residents-only parking, with plans going out to consultation in several areas.

Cardiff residents have voted against residents parking in more than half of the roads earmarked as part of an Olympic-backed scheme.

In February, Cardiff Council wrote to 2,276 households to say that resident-only parking could be introduced in their street as a “Games legacy”.

The authority said the scheme, which will be funded by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG), would ensure residents have access to parking spaces during Olympic events in Cardiff, with the Millennium Stadium hosting 11 Olympic football matches between July 25 and August 10.

But the council said it would like to keep the residents’ parking in place afterward, as a “Games legacy for Cardiff”.

56 streets were put forward for the initiative, but in 30 of those roads less than half the residents were in favour of the plans.

Canton saw the biggest no vote, with 10 out of 13 streets voting against.

Canton Labour councillor Ramesh Patel said the number of streets coming back as against the change shows local councillors had been right to question the council’s plans.

He said: “I think there’s been quite a large number of streets that have been basically refused and that’s what we expected in the beginning.

“Why did they need to look at the streets when we could have told them there was no call for residents’ parking.

“I think the council was wrong to do that.”

Riverside saw three streets with over 60% in favour, three with 50 %to 59% in favour and two streets against the scheme.

Riverside Plaid Cymru councillor Mohammed Islam said he welcomed residents views, with most of those consulted in the ward coming back broadly in favour of residents’ parking.

He said the plan was to send the three streets where between 50% and 60% in favour out to consultation. Where the residents’ response is at this level, it is left to ward members to decide if the plans go on to formal consultation.

He said: “I think they should have that as the surrounding streets are going to have (residents’ parking), so they’re going to get a big impact if it goes ahead.”

Grangetown also saw a mixed response with 13 strongly in favour

Grangetown’s Liberal Democrat councillor Francesca Montemaggi said she had been working to ensure information about the changes went out to residents so they could make their views known.

She said: “Talking to residents in some areas the need is badly felt. In others there really wasn’t (the same need), which really shows that you can’t just decide on big areas.”

She said for roads with a 50% to 60% positive response, she was inclined to shelve the plans for the time being, as the roads were small and the response was low.

Cardiff Council operational manager Paul Tomas confirmed consultations would not be going ahead for roads that voted between 50 and 59% in favour in Grangetown but would go ahead for Greenfield Ave in Canton where 53% were in favour because of a previous petition in the road.

He said the formal consultation will be advertised from Monday, with work planned to start on roads where there are no upheld objections on June 8, with enforcement from July 8.

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