Rushmere Country Park

Stockgrove entrance - dangerous parking

A simple solution that neither Bucks nor Beds could work out (how much do we pay them?) is for the fire brigade to put signs up like this:

Beds and Bucks should note that if only one vehicle parks on the road, the width is less than 3 metres.

At my request AVDC are willing to organise a meeting to discuss the matter, This only makes sense if it takes place on-site on a busy holiday weekend. I wonder if they will accede to this request.

Click here to see the latest reply to residents from Anne James at Buckinghamshire. You won't believe how incompetent/officious our paid officials are. What she is saying is that someone has to be injured before they will get round to helping!

Summary

Both Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire councils are under notice that an accident is imminent due to the lack of parking restrictions along Heath Road.

Local Stockgrove residents are concerned that emergency vehicles will either not be able to get through, or be significantly delayed.

What is strange is that Bedfordshire painted double yellow lines outside the Rushmere entrance almost immediately, could a local councillor live on that road I wonder.

Also, the Park is always complaining that it has no money, when they are losing hundreds of pounds a day simply because the council(s) will not paint lines. Beds and Bucks spend all their time arguing who is responsible, and making other petty excuses - see the letter from Anne James (AVDC) below.

The photographs below were taken on an ordinary, but warm, March Sunday. The situation at Easter and as summer approaches will be far, far worse.

The main prevaricators are the AVDC team who would rather make excuses for not acting quickly than prevent an accident and even save the council money (they are losing hundreds of pounds a day in parking fees). If they spent as much time solving the problem as looking for excuses we may have got somewhere by now!

Anne James
Network Resilience Manager
County Hall
Walton Street
Aylesbury
HP20 1UY
Email: ajames@buckscc.gov.uk

Parking on Brickhill Road outside Stockgrove Park
...
Buckinghamshire County Council is currently discussing with Central Bedfordshire Council how this issue might be resolved. For legal reasons it is not possible for Central Bedfordshire to enforce on the Buckinghamshire County Council side of the County boundary.

Unless we are able to provide enforcement we are not willing to implement restrictions as it would quickly become apparent to regular visitors that enforcement was not taking place on the Buckinghamshire side of the border. The process for introducing waiting restrictions is a legal one and Central Bedfordshire will have gone through this process before they could install the yellow lines. We are not able to just paint lines on the road without the backing of the required traffic regulation order.

If we can find a suitable solution then we will investigate implementing restrictions however I would like to advise that it can take approximately 12 months to process a new traffic regulation order taking into account all the statutory processes.

Anne James also wrote earlier:

Re: CRN 353723 Parking Outside Stokegrove Country Park
Thank you for your letter regarding your request for parking restrictions in the vicinity of the Rushmere car park entrance to Stockegrove Country Park.

I note that you have spoken to Steve Kenton who explained that we are in discussions with Central Bedfordshire about this location.
As a County Council we have the responsibility for on street parking within the County Boundary. We have been approached by Central Bedfordshire to
create a Traffic Order for this area within Buckinghamshire, however we have concerns that as it is a significant distance from any other yellow line
restriction the cost of enforcement would be a significant financial burden. This is because it would require a Civil Enforcement Officer to be driven out
to the location to patrol the area on a regular basis.

We have had recent clarification from the Department for Transport that Central Bedfordshire cannot enforce within Buckinghamshire.

We are now in discussions with Central Bedfordshire to investigate whether is it possible for both parties to agree a cost for patrolling the area at an agreed
frequency that Central Bedfordshire would be prepared to meet. If this can be agreed we will investigate the introduction of restrictions No Traffic Order
has been made for the roads within Buckinghamshire. The process for making a traffic order is lengthy and requires the County to advertise in local papers
and consult with relevant statutory consultees. It normally takes in the region of 12 months from scheme design, through consultation to implementation of the
new Traffic Order and the yellow lining and signs.

The County Council is not inclined to make traffic orders for areas where they are not able to enforce as this brings the County’s service into disrepute.
Until we can resolve the enforcement issue we are not able to implement any Traffic Orders at this location.

Yours sincerely
Anne James
Group Manager, Network Resilence
Telephone 01296 387125
Email ajames@buckscc.gov.uk

As you can see, the letter is full of excuses not to act, safety is obviously not of concern to AVDC. They fail to realise that most people are law-abiding and occasional patrols are all that are necessary as a deterrent.
There is also legislation to prosecute those who park there already. Parking on verges, especially verges with protected plants and SSSI are an offence, so is causing an obstruction.

Ms James' second response was a little more encouraging, but when I tried phoning Thames Valley Police on 101 as she suggested, the number was not the correct one for the problem. Maybe she is out of touch here too!