Letter: Car parking compromise at The Wrekin
There is a controversial application under consideration by Telford & Wrekin planners for a pay-to-use car park at the foot of The Wrekin on a field known as the Donkey Field.
There is a controversial application under consideration by Telford & Wrekin planners for a pay-to-use car park at the foot of The Wrekin on a field known as the Donkey Field.
If this commercial enterprise is approved the existing lay-by on the Wellington side of the road will be taken out of use and the whole of the road will have double yellow lines and no parking.
The current situation seems to work well most of the time although during busy periods some irresponsible people do park on the opposite side of the lay-by and do cause traffic chaos.
As one who regularly enjoys the delights of walking around the Wrekin I am concerned that, yet again, the actions of the ‘mindless few’ will bring changes that most of us will not welcome and for the most part are unnecessary.
Surely a simple compromise is the most sensible scenario. Why not leave the existing lay-by parking which, together with the Forest Glenn car park, is generally adequate, add double yellow lines to the road where parking causes difficulties and make use of the old rifle range parking area as an overspill, or alternative, parking area?
This would cost very little, would cause little disruption and would retain the Donkey Field as it is.
Paul Edwards, Old Park
Comments for: "Letter: Car parking compromise at The Wrekin"
DevilsChair
If we're paying to park - then the parking organisation should take some responsibility over keeping an eye on the cars?
Or is that beyond the responsibility of commerce or will they just guard their machines while our cars are looted?
Brian
What a miserable existace the motorist has in the United Kingdom. Not only do you have about the most expensive petrol and diesel in the world. You have to pay to park when you go grocery shopping (in most cases). You pay to park when you go to the hospital and just about everywhere else you take a car. Now if you want to go for a leisurely walk up the Wrekin (which you need a car to get to). Wrekin and Telford planners wants to help empty your pockets once again, by charging you to park there.
Rob
I agree with my good friend Paul on this - it's unnecessary, and do we really want yellow lines painted around the base of The Wrekin? Can't we just trust people to act responsibly as the vast majority do?
Brian - just to correct you though, this is an application being submitted by the landowner, not the council, so it won't be them 'emptying our pockets' - they just have to decide on the application.
Ali,Telford
More car parking available maybe, but no parking charges. Parking charges might lead to opening / closing times of the car park, toilets, cafe, gift shop......?? Lets leave it as it is; basic but unspolit.
JohnH
Would it not be possible to create a parking system that uses both the existing resources and is self-enforcing for those who must drive? I for one, as an infrequent but regular visitor to the hill walk in from Wellington. Each time I climb to the summit I see a little bit more added to the signage or the roadway and see "improvements" that collectively are whittling away at the wild feel and sense of freedom the Wrekin once had.
Anyone with the Wrekin at heart should resist the growing commercialism that won't be happy until it has paved over paradise and turned it into a theme park.
Isn't the obvious solution to balance visitor numbers through the year and encourage people to leave the car at home?
rob
Why don't you just walk from wellington. I do, its only 7 mile round trip and takes about two hours. Save on the old petrol.
Kate
Not everyone who walks the Wrekin lives in Wellington and some people can't manage a 7 mile round trip either.
Kate
The government/councils are supposed to be encouraging people to exercise! Now they want to charge people for the benefit of trying to stay fit! I assume if they are going to charge to park then the funds will go towards keeping the Wrekin clean, picking up litter and dog mess?! I doubt it! More likely to go to the fat cats running the council!
Rob again
See my comment above - it's not the council who want to charge for parking, indeed they're not even proposing building the new car park, it's the landowner making the proposal and he will presumably own it and collect payment.
Trevor in TF7
The council may not be charging for parking but they are the ones that have added double yellow lines to the proposal. It's a public road, after all, and a private company would be unable to add yellow lines.
I'm with Paul on this; leave the lay-by alone and add yellow lines to the other side of the road. If a land owner wants to open a field as an over-flow car park that's fine by me.
Diane Hipfield
Rob I have to agree with Kate on this one. A 7 mile round trip from Wellington and back is simply too much. Do you park in Wellington itself? Its an absolute NIGHTMARE!
I see no reasons to change the parking arrangements at all, in days of old I regulary parked on the old Forest Glen carpark, if you went late at night it was always empty and before you get the wrong idea I was very interested in writing nocturnal wildlife at the time.
swingboat
'Isn’t the obvious solution to balance visitor numbers through the year' Yes this is the obvious sensible solution, I would go further and recommend closing this historic treasured landmark for 3mths of the year to allow flora and fauna time to recover from the incessant destructive pounding of feet, paws, cycles and four wheel drives. In the days when walking to the wrekin was a common bank holiday event, people walked from all the district towns meeting up with friends and making new aquaintences on route. The Wrekin was a magical place then very different from the baron tattered landscape it has become today. On walking there recently we where attacked by dogs allowed to run free and indignant dog owners claimimg their animals are really friendly, (our dog is always on a leash)made to dive out of the way of a herd of mountain bikers, pushed aside by intolerant runners who do not appreciate the surroundings, and the regular passage and noise of four wheel drive vehicles made it a wholly unforgettable experience we will not be repeating soon.I fear it is all too late, if a landowner wishes to make profit from unused land the hoards will pay and the Wrekin will continue it's demise.