The Cambridge road where council ‘can’t afford’ to put yellow lines in but can afford to paint out DIY ones

The DIY yellow lines painted on to the road at the Meadowlands Road and The Homings corner were painted out by a Cambridgeshire County Council team this week.

The markings, which proved very effective in deterring anti-social parking, were installed near the Barnwell Road earlier in the year.

One resident, Cherrill Richardson, explained in a letter published in this week’s print edition of the Cambridge Independent that the Meadowlands community was “amazed and delighted” when the yellow lines appeared.

Calling the homemade markings “a great success”, she added: “Before the ‘fake’ yellow lines, residents put out cones on either end of the corner, only to be tossed aside by the people who parked there – and even in the end they were stolen, presumably by the people desperate to park close to the dealership, rather than use their designated parking at the Park and Ride.”

Ms Richardson said local councillors were fully involved.

“For two years I have been vocal with Cllr Alex Bulat and Cllr Bennett by sending them, at their request, numerous photos of the offending cars. For two years running we have asked for funding from Highways to paint double yellow lines on the corners because when cars park there it makes it a blind spot for cars driving towards Newmarket Road and coming into the estate. I have witnessed many near misses from the upstairs window of my computer room.

“You say a spokesperson from Cambridgeshire County Council said they have not received any complaints about parking at this junction – it’s actually a corner. I question this statement. As I previously said, both councillors have been aware of our concerns for the past two years and said they were doing all they could to get the funding. Surely being councillors they made the council aware of our concerns.”

As previously reported, a Cambridgeshire County Council spokesperson said: “We have not received any complaints about parking at this junction. We will need to remove the lines that have been painted on the road unlawfully.”

The removal of the DIY yellow lines has now taken place.

Cllr Naomi Bennett (Abbey, Green) explained that yellow road markings had been installed in Meadowlands but “the budget constraints meant the first yellow lines were so short” and had not gone right up to the corner with The Homings.

She added: “I want to be clear that this isn’t about councillors or Highways Officers not stepping up. It’s about a County Council that has budget issues and has done so for a very long time.”

City councillor Elliot Tong (Green, Abbey), told the Cambridge Independent: “I'm not going to condemn this resident for taking action into their own hands - blame should be directed at the County Council for failing to address the community's concerns - however, I find myself worried that other ‘vigilante’ painters might not think through their plans quite so carefully, potentially causing danger to the general public with defective markings.

“The best way to keep people safe is to make sure the relevant authorities actually sort problems like these out, first.”

A Cambridgeshire County Council spokesperson said: “We have received Cllr Alex Bulat’s local highway iImprovement (LHI) application for parking restrictions in this location.

“It will be considered at our highways and transport committee in September, along with all other LHI applications in the current round.”

However Cllr Bennett, who is on an advisory cross-council committee which considers the Local Highways Improvements, says that the only application so far on the table in the September meeting is “the fully green-lighted Galfrid School pedestrian crossing improvements in Barnwell Road” which is “super-urgent”.

“If this [crossing plan] gets approved,” adds Cllr Bennett, “a large chunk of the budget will be spent in Abbey. Highways councillors may well feel that it would be unfair for Abbey to get a second bite of the cherry if other wards come away empty-handed.

“If this [plan for yellow lines in Meadowlands] doesn’t get approved, we will discuss next steps with residents.”

Cllr Alex Bulat (Labour, Abbey) said: “I applied for the second round of double yellows as I was advised to do individual applications as I could only cover the first corner under the first round of LHIs which was done. I have still not heard about the second round of the LHI (Local Highway Improvement) applications for the most recent ones.”