Now you can't even park for 20 minutes for free in Stratford! You have to pay 20 pence if you want to park for just half an hour! They're taking the mick more and more with this outrageous scheme, it's nothing more then a revenue collector.

wait till november... warwickshire is taking on 35 more traffic wardens....

warwick has a slightly different problem. no parking in the town centre for more than 2 hours! great for the visitors, but what about the workers and residents???

Where I live there is a carpark behind the flats. Part of it is for the few shops in front and the back, which is marked "Private Parking" is for the residents. One Saturday I was cleaning the area and an older bloke drives up instructing me to remove the cone I had placed there whilst cleaning. He ordered me to move the cone. I looked at him and politely asked why. He said that he was going to park there as there is no parking in town. Whilst I appreciate there likely isn't parking in town I said to him "Am sorry, but you can't park here, this is private parking for residents." Then asked "If I was to be looking for parking in your street and could find none you wouldn't mind if I availed myself of your parking facilities be it driveway, front of house etc?" He huffed and puffed then backed out and drove away. - Till next time I suspect. No parking or no free parking in towns is an issue for residents, workers and visitors.

I can believe that, people working in Stratford have been gradually pushed further and further out of town, and caused more problems for residents and shops. The irony is that these measures were 'apparently' put in place to ease traffic congestion, but all that's happened is the traffic has been pushed into the smaller roads on the edge of the town center, where there are more schools and so forth.

All that's happened is made it harder for people to park, which means driving round for longer and causing more congested roads, and has made it unsafe around the smaller roads. Imagine if the money that has been spent on installing expensive parking meters, traffic wardens, and hideously expensive park and ride schemes; had been spent on improving public transport instead!

It's the same old story. Don't consult those that use something and apply the results too improve a system. Pay consultants a small fortune to come up with something totally impractical and unworkable then say... "How clever we are, look what we have come up with that benefits all." Aka known as spin to cover a bad and expensive decision.

P.S.

Ever wondered if most town planners use the same expensive consulting firm as most seem to have the same end result.

ah, but warwick DID have a very expensive public consultation, meetings and a vote on the new town centre plan. it got coprehensively ripped apart..(one of the high points was All through traffic having to file past the police station, so if theres an accident the police cant get there... ) so now the council are doing it anyway. but a little at a time so we dont notice..