What do enforcement officers do during school holidays?

 

Drivers and residents on Cowpen Road are disgusted at the pathetic standard stock response they receive from Northumberland County Council when complaining about the regular and ongoing illegal parking on yellow lines and the footpaths on both Cowpen Road and Craigmill Park every single morning.

When asked why enforcement officers do not patrol or ticket vehicles breaking the law on Northumberland’s busiest and most polluted urban highway, the answer is that the enforcement officers are ‘very busy servicing and checking on parking near schools as its a health and safety issue you know?’.

The root cause of the problems is a branch of Greggs the Bakers takeaway offering warm food and coffee as people travel by for breakfast or lunch. Unlike its neighbours on the same street McDonalds and KFC it does not have a designated off street drive through, just a simple very small car park, leaving customers parking on yellow lines and footpaths causing increased health and safety problems for both drivers and residents on this extremely busy urban highway.

The popularity of the service Greggs provides bring lorry drivers to a halt on the yellow lines or pavements on Cowpen Road causing an extreme hazard for locals and Greggs customers turning right from Craigmill Park onto Cowpen Road.

Its been expressed to us that residents of Craigmill Park and Cowpen Road are extremely concerned regarding planning blight through the inaction of the County Council reducing the value of their homes, a problem that when Greggs was opened the yellow lines were designed to reduce.

We are aware that Town Councillor’s Susan and Grant Davey have raised the issue with Blyth Town Council to be brought at the Partnership meetings with the County Council and residents have made contact with the Mayor of the Town Councillor Margaret Richardson who is also a County Councillor for Cowpen Road but not the affected part near Greggs, but she has also received the same answer, that enforcement officers are fully engaged in the mornings at school sites across the County.

Residents inform us they can see the need to enforce safe parking at schools but the school year is only 39 weeks Monday to Friday what do enforcement officers do on 52.14 Saturdays and 13.14 weeks when schools are on holiday? The stock response now needs to be Oh! they have to attend to indiscriminate illegal parking problems being faced by Drivers and Residents on Northumberland’s busiest Urban Highway, Cowpen Road in Blyth!