The latest Hartlepool Street Art project “Paint the town in yellow stripes” looks like being a huge success! There is yellow paint everywhere! Thought up by the Mayor and Cabinet and fully funded by the residents of the town. Possibly not be the best use of public money in the current financial climate but the yellow paint is apparently vital for smooth traffic flow during the Tall Ships.
Hartlepool residents might be surprised to learn that the Tall Ships is not the only event being held in the UK this year. The Celtic Manor Club in Wales are expecting sell out crowds for their event and are adopting a “park and ride” scheme of their own.
The Highways agency has suspended all works on access routes and land at the former Llanwern steelworks will be used to accommodate up to 12,000 cars travelling from the east and another site will provide space for up to 3,000 cars arriving from the west. Both sites will include facilities for security and ticket checks before people take coaches to the sell-out event. Up to 30,000 people a day are expected through the two sites.
No plans to paint the town yellow have been adopted, no residents parking schemes introduced. Of course, it’s only the Ryder Cup so it’s not in the same league in the international sporting hierarchy as the Hartlepool Tall Ships! Is it?
Organisers also identified the need to minimize disruption for residents going about their normal business, something the Mayor and Hartlepool Council obviously have no interest in doing if reports that Headland residents will be turned back if the Headland is "full". My mother is almost 80 years old and a little unsteady on her feet, she can't walk long distances any more. If she can't guarantee to get back to her house then she will effectively be made a prisoner in her own home for the duration of the event. My wife runs her own chiropody business from a surgery in Park Road and also visits people in their homes, she has effectively been told to close her business while the Tall Ships are in town as she won't be able to get to her patients and her patients won't be able to get to her surgery!
It would be interesting to know if the Council have put the necessary legal orders in place in relation to these Yellow Lines.
ReplyDeleteFor a Yellow Line to be 'enforceable' it needs to have a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO). A TRO has to have been consulted upon and advertised on site for a period of time prior to its implementation.
As someone that regularly walks between the Central Estate and the Train Station (along Cleveland and Lancaster Roads, both having 'benefited' from the recent paint treatment). I have not seen any such advertising.
Also for the TRO to be 'enforceable' there needs to be Plates displaying the actual restriction (ie no waiting at any time). There is currently no such plates at any of the new yellow lines in the town.
The other way for the Yellow Lines to be enforceable is for there to have been a 'Controlled Parking Zone' implemented, but again this would have need to advertised and I'm sure I would have noticed this.
If neither of these scenarios have been put in place, then the Yellow Lines are worthless (other than as a 'visual' deterrent). Could this be another example of the Council trying to con us?