It is the season of ghosts and ghouls, of scary things. In Andover, one of the scariest things for many residents is parking, both in the town centre and near their homes.
Beyond all the social media comments and endless rounds of seemingly meaningless meetings, the life of a humble town councillor is quite busy. So much that we do, you don’t see; so much of what we achieve, you might take for granted.
Since March last year, I have been trying to get Test Valley Borough Council to increase the number of parent/child parking spaces in our town car parks.
Lots of residents have messaged me, emailed, and spoken to me in person, usually having first contacted TVBC and gotten nowhere. TVBC promised face-to-face meetings, then never arranged them; promised public meetings that were never held; and public consultations and surveys were promised but never happened.
Despite a great many emails from me and residents, the result is that we have been largely ignored. Yes, TVBC did install a few parent/child spaces in the multi-storey carpark earlier in the year, after nearly a year of me chasing them, but not enough, not really practical to use, and only to replace ineffective charging points.
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Disabled spaces in the High Street have been unavailable since the scaffolding went up, and if a disabled person tries to use the multi-storey, getting stuck in the lift might result in a parking ticket. Welcome to Andover.
So many people have commented that the parking spaces are not suitable for modern car sizes, and they’re not. Yet you have a greater chance of seeing an actual ghost than you do of getting a response from TVBC. Even TVBC councillors are not getting responses, so perhaps I shouldn’t feel too bad.
And then there is residential car parking. During my election campaign, way back in early 2023, one of the things that regularly cropped up was the inadequate parking situation on our housing estates.
The absolute chaos during school drop-off/pick-up, the fact that residents have to pay ever-increasing permit fees without the guarantee of ever finding a space, and the near-total lack of any enforcement. These are all issues that HCC has had a good number of years to recognise and rectify, all problems that TVBC councillors should have been highlighting at every opportunity and seeking to redress.
For the last year or so, I have been listening to residents, hearing their concerns and their solutions. I have spoken to a TVBC councillor about the various alternatives around the school run and how they have achieved minimal success. Very soon, and after only five years in office, our HCC councillor has agreed to meet with residents to hear their voices and, hopefully, act on their wishes.
That it came to a relatively new and independent town councillor to get the ball rolling should worry you all a lot.
So, between residents and me, progress is being made to make our lives a little bit better. It has taken time, for sure, and met with implacable indifference at so many levels.
Yet progress is being made. With TVBC about to do some work in the multi-storey that could include the changes so regularly requested, and our HCC councillor agreeing to meet regarding estate parking, we could set something in motion that can be copied elsewhere for the benefit of thousands.
Happy Halloween.
The views and opinions expressed by Town Councillor Mark Farren are not representative of the Andover Town Council.
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