Hucclecote Parish Council would like to release the following statement in relation to the parking issues on the Cranham Gate development and access points to the Gloucester Business Park (GBP). 

We have recently received a number of complaints from residents regarding the volume of cars parking on the residential roads of the Cranham Gate development and also in Sussex Gardens.  Having assessed the situation we are aware that many of these vehicles belong to office workers based on the GBP. Interestingly we have also received a few complaints from workers travelling into our parish because it is no longer practical for them to park their cars here. 

The increase in on-street parking coincides with a move by the GBP to implement a clamping operation on the site for cars not in authorised spaces.  Whilst the GBP is within its rights to do this it has led to the overspill of many vehicles onto our roads, made easier by the man-made and unauthorised access points into the GBP from our residential area. 

Hucclecote Parish Council's view on the likelihood of multiple access points leading to greater traffic and a visual deterioration of our parish have been well documented in our newsletters.  Our view and fears have proved to be correct with these recent events alone. 

We believe that our role within our community is to protect the visual appearance and practical use of our parish for the benefit of our residents.  Although we acknowledge that we can not prevent cars parking legally on our roads we fail to see how allowing uncontrolled access to the GBP and allowing our parish to turn into an overspill car park has any benefit to our area or to the majority of the people we represent. 

We are therefore determined to safeguard the appearance of our parish by taking the appropriate measures to restrict the volume of cars parking on our roads and inconveniencing our residents.  We would like to thank Goodmans (the management company of the GBP) for supporting us by taking swift measures to block unauthorised access points.  This has already made a noticeable difference. 

Regarding the practical benefit of having access points from the residential area into the GBP we do not currently see a case for this although we will be reassessing this in the coming months.  As ever, there remains a formal process available should any private party wish to change the existing planning design of our area.

In the meantime we will continue to do everything we can to protect our environment and make the parish of Hucclecote as visually pleasing and practical to live in as we possibly can.

Hucclecote Parish Council, December 2009

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