Across the town, there are two issues that consistently get raised with my Councillor colleagues and I, that being neighbourhood parking and damaged grass verges. These two issues are for the most part interlinked and have been going on for years. Damaged and muddy grass verges are at their worst in early spring after months of being unable to dry out.
Most of Crawley’s history has been under a Labour-run Council that lacked foresight when it came to having sustainable planning policies with adequate parking provision for many of our neighbourhoods. Frustratingly, Labour’s local mistakes of yesteryear are still being made today with some planning permissions being granted that still have woefully inadequate parking permission that are storing up problems for tomorrow.
I’m not going to pretend that there are easy solutions that will swiftly cure these problems, but Crawley Borough Council should accept responsibility for its planning policies of the past, and it also has the financial resources to help address these problems in locations where they are at their very worst.
In 2014, Crawley elected a Labour-run Council that made a lot of noise about parking in regaining control of the Council from us Conservatives in the local elections of that year. However since then, the Labour Administration have scrapped the Council’s programme that created new on-street parking spaces out of surplus grass verges in the worst affected areas.
After four years of Labour failure, Crawley’s parking problems are getting worse. It is clear that only a Council Administration that is not anti-motorist and who actually listens to Crawley’s residents will do anything about neighbourhood parking and wrecked grass verges.
That potential Administration is a Conservative one. If elected in next month’s local elections, we will introduce a Better Neighbourhoods Programme that reintroduces creating new on-street residential parking provision in the worst affected areas, as well as finding solutions for the very worst grass verges, including options such as removal of very small ones or protection with low level fencing. The task is huge but some action will be much better than Labour’s current complete lack of action.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
4th April 2018