Electric vehicle charging points and other restrictions are causing parking issues in a Ludlow street

Electric vehicle (EV) charging points and other restrictions are causing parking issues in a Ludlow street.

That is according to one resident who is asking the town council for help.

Writing to Ludlow Town Council (LTC), the resident said there is a severe lack of parking spaces on Sidney Road, and has put forward to two suggestions that could help the situation.

One is to convert the open green space into a designated residential parking layout.

"At present, this green space is rarely used, left overgrown and mostly just serves as a shortcut for people to walk across instead of using the adjacent pedestrian path," said the resident.

"In the winter. this space is a slippery mud bath with no drainage as the paths across the front of the properties at Sidney Road become waterlogged."

LTC - whose Representational Committee will note the concerns at its meeting on Tuesday (September 8) - say town and village greens are protected by law, which make it an offence to drive on.

"Land designated as a green is reserved for lawful sports, pastimes, and recreation," said a LTC spokesperson.

"Adding parking spaces interrupts this public use and breaks the law."

The other option, suggests the resident, is to have an optimised layout fort EV and non-EV vehicles.

"The specific stretch of road where the chargers have been installed appears wide and large enough to accommodate an integrated solution," said the resident.

"Could the area be reconfigured to allow ample room for four cars to actively use the charging points while simultaneously preserving enough space for non-electric resident cars to park legally?

"Additionally, I would like to know if resident parking permits can be introduced or made available for Sidney Road so that households living here are not penalised or left with nowhere to leave their vehicles.

"I would greatly appreciate it if a highways or parking officer could review the dimensions of Sidney Road to see if this dual-use layout and greenspace adaptation is feasible."

LTC say the next steps will be to respond to the resident, and to forward their concerns to Shropshire Council's highways and transport departments, and local unitary councillors.