Parking problems persist

11:35am Monday 12th May 2008

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Residents petitioning to stop student parking causing havoc on Treliever Road, Mabe, have collected 1,311 signatures in less than three weeks.

The university has limited parking on the Tremough site, which leads many students to try and find free spaces elsewhere in lay-bys and on residential roads in and around the village.

Treliever Road frequently becomes grid-locked when trucks and buses try and negotiate a path around cars parked all day along the busy route.

The petition asks local authorities to work with the university to find a solution.

Gene Keeble, who launched the petition said: "We cannot get out of our own driveways most of the time.

"Someone actually stopped me and asked whether this street was the place to park for the Tremough campus. I was so angry I could not reply."

She said no one blames the students adding she would not want to pay £5 every day to park on campus.

Nearby resident Liz Dunstan said: "They need to get the parking right before any further expansion.

"It is asking them to review the planning applications and pause until they have sorted out the parking.

"We do not know what the solution is but we have to find one."

Resident Clive Moore said: "The university say they are being green. We want to be green too but instead we are getting all the problems and congestion up here."

Copies of the petition have been sent to Cornwall county council, Kerrier council and the university.

A university spokesperson said they strive to maintain harmonious relations with the local community and in recognition of residents concerns have agreed measures to address off-site parking.

These include increasing their subsidy for bus journeys, reducing the cost to a quarter of the cost of a regular fare.

Charges for pay and display parking are also to be dropped from £5 to £3 per day.

She said: "The number of car-parking spaces permitted at Tremough is in accordance with PPS13, a national government planning guideline, which we have been obliged to adhere to throughout our development of the Campus."

She added any future development will involve consultation with residents and they are working closely with local councils and the police on joint approaches to sustainable travel in the Penryn/Falmouth area.