Car parking at junction Thames Street and Nine Acres.

Fri 13 Mar 2015, 13:14

Paul my point about emergency vehicles was that if that area gets gridlocked because the parked cars narrow the road to one lane on all three sides of the junction then emergency vehicles get stuck too. It's not an ideal situation, particularly as shortly after I posted that comment the fire engine went up Forest Hill to a crash.

Fri 13 Mar 2015, 12:19

One car @ 11:30am 07/03/2015
NO cars 10:00am 13/03/2015
Is it really commuters ??

Thu 12 Mar 2015, 19:07

The argument about emergency vehicles is poor. Drivers are trained to approach hazards correctly (having spent 9 years throwing an Ambulance around the streets of Oxford). The point should be made that Nine Acres is fairly wide, in fact the same width as the Abingdon Road in Oxford, a major route south out of Oxford and we don't have the narrow streets like Jericho and East Oxford. Perhaps we could just get on with each other and accept that people willl need to park their cars to get to work, visit friends, tend the graves of family and pick kids up safely form Cubs without needing to fill up the residents spaces further up the road. Can I mention the development on the Forest Road now?

Mon 9 Mar 2015, 14:59

but Market street on church street is not a manger route into charlbury, if you think people have to pass though the road from Burford or Chipping norton area.

Mon 9 Mar 2015, 14:51 (last edited on Mon 9 Mar 2015, 14:52)

Yes, Rachel, I walked up this afternoon to have a look (it didn't look too bad today) and your latest posting confirms my previous suspicion - that complaints about accidents and safety are actually more about finding on-street commuter parking in Nine Acre annoying and inconvenient. I'm afraid I don't have too much sympathy. Folk in Nine Acre are no more inconvenienced by commuter parking than anyone else in central Charlbury, as anyone in Browns Lane, Market Street, Church Street, etc. will tell you. Simply reducing the number of available spaces will not solve the problem of station parking - it will make the existing problem worse for everyone.

Mon 9 Mar 2015, 14:45

Mark, it is a problem. I have seen vehicles (cars, vans, school buses and the X9) queued all at once along Thames Street, up Nine Acres Lane and down Pound Hill as a result of this. If an emergency vehicle came along at the time the school buses are going through Charlbury and the cars are parked like that on Nine Acres where would it go to get past?

And yes, you are right it will just shift the problem elsewhere (probably to Nine Acres Close), but there doesn't seem to be an alternative. Not all the cars are commuters either, but once some people start parking there others feel it's acceptable to do so. I saw one car which arrived, parked right on the end by the double yellow lines and the two lady occupants then got out to walk their dog down Pound Hill.

Mon 9 Mar 2015, 14:32

Have you been to seen the parked cars ,people found it hard to get out of driveways. also old people are finding it hard to park for graveyard, just think about it.

Mon 9 Mar 2015, 13:53 (last edited on Mon 9 Mar 2015, 13:57)

I'm afraid I don't agree with you Rachel, and I think that Mark Sulik's comments are spot-on. Some of what you say seems to me both over-emotional and factually fairly questionable. This is by no stretch of the imagination a 'very busy junction', and as Paul Butler rightly says, there…

Long post - click to read full text

Mon 9 Mar 2015, 12:30

It is the answer, as it on a very busy junction which a main route into charlbury and buses from chipping cant get pass.

Sun 8 Mar 2015, 20:48

Inposing yet more yellow lines isn't the answer - it simply shifts the problem elsewhere.

Sun 8 Mar 2015, 19:52

How about approaching the right turn slowly, entering nine acres using the correct positioning then, given the long vision that is available all the way up to the bend, either give way at the cars parked on the left or move out and proceed up the road. No need for yellow lines, they are unsightly and we all have to pay for them. Just a thought.

Sun 8 Mar 2015, 15:34

For information
The Town Clerk raised this matter with the police and got the following reply;

I do believe there is an issue there. I've seen vehicles come around from Thames Street on to Nine Acres sometimes quite fast and usually cutting the corner not expecting the row of cars to be parked there and an oncoming vehicle coming towards them from Nine Acres.

In my opinion double yellows should solve the problem. I can then work with the Community Parking wardens and aim to keep the area free form vehicles.

Kind regards,

Wes Smith

PCSO c9837

Chipping Norton

TEL: 101

Sat 7 Mar 2015, 17:38

The outcome of this if it continues will no doubt unfortunately be that most of Charlbury' on street parking will be double-yellow lined, & permit only parking for residents only!

Sat 7 Mar 2015, 09:19

The ripple effect . .....when charges were imposed at the station, people parked on the streets. This was very noticeable in church lane and Dyers Hill. The station is getting busier and the extended car park usually full. Friday less so , as this one would assume is a " working from home day" . Restrictions that have been imposed now prevent the users of the station from taking the spaces much needed by the residents at these locations. The need for parking has just resulted in moving the cars to next available location Thames street / nine acres. Market Street and church street also used .

It is a mixture of not wanting to pay , lack of spaces , and increase in use. The demand exceeds supply. It won't get better.

The subject of station car parking was raised in a previous three in November.......it's not going away

Fri 6 Mar 2015, 19:49 (last edited on Fri 6 Mar 2015, 19:51)

Parkway Station is due to be completed in September which should take the pressure off Charlbury Station, so the proposed second storey to the Car Park may not be needed. Then when the Sports Hall is built at Rushey Bank which will have a vast car park, this can be used for overspill parking. The Spendlove site which will then only house the Dementia group,Library and play centre will leave the remaining ground for an extension to the Town centre car park. So car parking solved.

Fri 6 Mar 2015, 16:39

The car park is always less busy on Friday's as the station is less busy

Fri 6 Mar 2015, 12:40

Intriguingly, the Government has today announced a right for residents to petition against local authority parking policies: www.gov.uk/government/news/government-delivers-on-parking-promises-to-help-local-shops

Mr Pickles clearly intends this to be used to remove parking restrictions: "We are ending the war on drivers who simply want to go about their daily business. For too long parking rules have made law-abiding motorists feel like criminals...". (I won't quote any more because it'll just make me angry.)

But, looking through the guidance, I don't see anything that says it has to be this way round. You could use the new right to petition for more parking restrictions. A residents' parking scheme, for example, which so far WODC has refused to implement.

So if you do want more restrictions on parking in Charlbury, that's where to start - you'll probably only need 20 signatures.

Fri 6 Mar 2015, 12:25

It getting worse and worse every day. just feel sorry for the Elderly people how cant walk far to go to the graveyard.
they going to be an accident.

Fri 6 Mar 2015, 11:05

I drove into Charlbury today at 8.50am and I could see that there were at least 20 car parking spaces in the "new" station car park. There did however seem to be quite a few cars on Dyers Hill and Thames Street as well but I am not sure if they are residents.

Fri 6 Mar 2015, 07:49

Alternative, Let's campaign to close the station, then build houses on the car park

Thu 5 Mar 2015, 22:35

I think people need to be realistc about this. Everything Richard says is true. Instead of slagging off the poor old commuters - who frankly are causing less bother at the bottom of Nine Acre then they would be in Church Street, collectively it's more useful if we as a community push that parking provision at the station needs to keep pace with demand.

Thu 5 Mar 2015, 21:05

The last few days I have noticed more cars parked on Dancers Hill going up the hill which can make it very difficult. Surely that can't be for same reason as Nineacres.

Thu 5 Mar 2015, 20:50

This issue was raised at Town Council last week and Roger Clarke is dealing with the authorities on this.

Thu 5 Mar 2015, 19:58 (last edited on Thu 5 Mar 2015, 19:59)

Snippet from the Highway code 243

DO NOT stop or park:

- opposite or within 10 metres (32 feet) of a junction, except in an authorised parking space

Thu 5 Mar 2015, 18:57

It's not just "to avoid paying", sadly. The car park now regularly fills up for the 8.30 train. Even if you have every intention of paying for a space, if you've driven 15 miles to get to Charlbury station only to find the car park full, you'll probably look for an on-street space rather than driving on to Oxford and catching a much later train. (I even saw a member of FGW staff parked on Dyers Hill the other week, and presumably they're entitled to free parking in the car park!)

There's a car park extension underway at Kingham station, and of course the new Oxford Parkway station opening this summer, both of which should take a bit of the pressure off. But really the best answer would be for Network Rail to put a second deck on the low-level car park here in Charlbury.

Thu 5 Mar 2015, 18:52

Yes, noticed it today and wondered if commuters are parking there to avoid paying for the station car park.

Thu 5 Mar 2015, 18:42

Have you noticed increased parking at bottom oF Ninee Acres? This has increased over last weeks, currently 6/7cars are parked during working day causing obstruction to traffic and real potential for accidents.