Barriers put an end to unofficial free car park at Gloucester Docks

By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter

Barriers have been installed which have put an end to an unofficial free car park at Gloucester Docks.

Dozens of cars had been parking on the land between North Warehouse and the Main Basin in recent months.

This sparked safety concerns among nearby business owners and residents as the area is daily by many pedestrians.

The land there is owned by Gloucester City Council and a previous attempt to stop the practice by using temporary bollards was unsuccessful.

However, new barriers have been introduced which have put an end to the problem.

City Council leader Richard Cook (C, Kingsway) said it has taken some time but it is land which is not designed for parking.

He said he believes that the practice started after the Canal and River Trust using it while dredging the docks.

“It seemed to open the floodgates so we’ve had to put in barriers to stop it being used in that way,” he said.

“We have car parks in the area anyway so there’s no need to use it that way but it’s probably just an effort on people’s part to have a free day’s parking.”

Cllr Cook said if people are going to abuse it the barriers will have to stay there permanently.

Councillor Rebecca Trimnell (LD, Westgate) said she is pleased to see that bollards are now in place to stop the unauthorised parking of vehicles behind North Warehouse despite it being a long time coming.

“Thankfully vehicles will now no longer be able to use the area as a car park,” she said.

“Its unauthorised use has however caused a lot of damage to the paving stones. I have today emailed the cabinet member with photographs asking for such damage to be fixed without delay.

“I am hoping the time it takes to fix the damage doesn’t take as long as it has to stop the parking.

“I strongly feel if more had been done before then I wouldn’t need to be sending such photographs.”

Fellow City Councillor Pam Tracey (C, Westgate) said she was pleased it

“It’s like everything. You see one car and then everybody parks there. It got out of hand.

“Not only that, those cars were going in there and when they reversed out it was quite dangerous for pedestrians.

“I’m glad the problem is gone but having all these barriers up doesn’t look right.”

Gloucester News Centre – http://gloucesternewscentre.co.uk