Residents concern at lack of parking as roadworks set to begin at busy Peterborough road

Next month (June 7), work will begin along Park Crescent, near Central Park on speed reduction measures.

Residents and councillors had campaigned for a number of years for speed calming measures to be put in at the accident blackspot, which is close to Thomas Deacon Junior/Academy, Peterborough Regional College, University Centre Peterborough and many nursing homes.

Work on installing ‘raised table’ speed bumps is expected to see the road closed to through traffic for up to six weeks.

A number of users of Central Park, however, are worried that access to the park will be restricted to people from outlying villages or the disabled because of the lack of parking that will be available while the works take place.

In a letter to the Peterborough Telegraph, Chairman of Peterborough Croquet Club Roz Wright, who use the park for their matches, said:

“This is an appeal for help on a Parking Problem where roadworks will severely affect the lives of people using the Central Park in Peterborough. Hundreds of people use the park daily, not all live close by. Many drive in from outlying villages, estates etc and we have enjoyed being able to park in Park Crescent to attend functions, visit the cafe (they are just getting on their feet after Covid), the paddling pool, the tennis courts to name a few, the park is very popular with the children, the elderly whose family need to get wheelchairs in and out of cars. It is a wonderful park.
“We have just been warned that the whole of Park Crescent is to be closed for six weeks. There is limited other parking available and only for two hours. Park Crescent would normally take about 70+ cars.
“I am the Chairman of Peterborough Croquet Club. A wide age and ability range of people have in the past enjoyed this less vigorous sport. The Council only allows us the use of Central Park for five months every year.

“From 2020, we had waited ten months before being allowed on the lawn, and we were only allowed six weeks. We then waited another seven months over winter before starting again, with a limited number of players, only being allowed, six people on each lawn. Half our membership.
“You can imagine how we felt yesterday when attending our second week of starting up again for the season, we find there will be no parking facilities along Park Crescent for six weeks. We will not even have had a month of play, in spite of paying full price for facilities we now cannot enjoy. Again, why? Road work could have been activated in the months before when fewer people would have been affected.
“There are at present no other parking facilities of longer than two hours. All adjacent roads for some distance are zoned and not available. The club has several disabled members, they can manage if they have a rest between games. Being able to forget for a short time pain and discomfort, is paramount for some people. Not everyone has a Blue Badge.
“The seriousness of this is not only for our Club, but everyone else to whom the Park is a lifeline. What few parking spaces will be available might well be at a premium. It will be very difficult to plan any event. We have already arranged, and booked a tournament, and have teams travelling from all over the country. Where can we advise them to park? Peterborough people use the Park for all sorts of reasons and look forward to being able to bring wheelchairs in their cars and use the cafe, which has suffered so much this past year. The families with children who have been shut up for long periods of time this past year.
“I fully understand that work of this type has to be done, but it inevitably causes resentment and inconvenience, however, the road repair organisation have had months to do this work without planning it over the summer, when so many will want to be in the open air. I am not convinced Park Crescent is not that bad, there other roads much worse and they surely need attention first?
“Wouldn’t you think it possible to exercise ‘reasonable adjustment ‘ to this enterprise, delay until October when the children will be back at School, the weather not as inviting to be out and about in. Can anyone make a suggestion which can be put in place to help the people of Peterborough to enjoy the Park this summer?”

A Peterborough City Council spokesperson said: “The parking restrictions have been in place in Park Crescent for a number of years and would have arisen through consultation with residents at the time. The park is surrounded by a residential area and as such their requirements need to be taken into consideration.

“If residents and users of the town park feel these restrictions now need reviewing, we ask for them to formally write to us outlining their thoughts and proposals and this will then be looked at.”

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