Kemble - station, facilities, improvements, events and incidents - merged posts

[whole diary]

[Richard Fairhurst]

I will pass your comment on to the Parish Council and District Councillor

By all means.

[Sapperton Tunnel]

I have a lot of sympathy for the parking problems faced by the residents of Kemble. However, the conditions imposed by the council to link planning permission with a parking scheme appear unreasonable when, prima facie, the car park can only improve the situation. Surely it's for the local council to sort out the parking issues, with or without an enlarged car park?

As an aside, my local station desperately needed an expanded station car  park a couple  years ago. In that instance the council put its money where its mouth is, dipped into its pocket and paid for it, and as far as I can tell, it has solved the problems of fly parking locally.

A village the size of Kemble (population under 1500) rarely has a train station at all, let alone an hourly service each way with many trains being through to London.    I suspect this might add to the value of properties within waking distance of the station rather more than "fly parking" decreases the values.  I'm not sure where this is leading me - just having the thought that there may be another element to the balance that hasn't yet been mentioned.

Kemble is the railhead for the Cirencester, Tetbury and Malmesbury areas, plus regular commuters from as far as Fairford, Charlton Kings (Cheltenham), Birdlip, Wooton-under-Edge and Dursley.

The fly parking problems are mainly in the Housing Association (Ex Council) type houses area. Some are privately owned but the fly parking does not really affect property prices. Some of the residents are quite vocal in their opinion of the fly parkers (Posh C***s) etc.

There are a several commuters who live in the village and work in London and they just add to the mix. I think that a rural atmosphere just about still exists with most folk looking out for each other and the feeling of fly parking is one of the whole village relates to, irrespective of the value of the property and wealth of the occupant. The station does add to property values and thus increases the unaffordability for couples born and bred in the village; there is some resentment but probably not enough to disturb the 'balance' that Grahame hints at.

The Parish Council has a long term policy of slow but steady increases in the housing stock. The idea is to have sufficient population to keep the village school and shop open. The policy does get knocked sideways from time to time with developments but overall it is going in the right direction. It is not a village wanting to be kept in aspic.

[Sapperton Tunnel]

Forgive the rambling on this as a number of posts have appeared since I started and I have tried to keep up to date with the comments.  

You are correct that a residents parking scheme is perfectly legal. However GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) cannot implement a residents parking scheme because that would require a further legal instrument called a traffic regulation order (TRO^» (Trowbridge - next trains)) under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. TROs can only be made by the highway authority (in this case Gloucestershire County Council (GCC)). GWR is therefore powerless to comply with the planning condition.

Exactly. GCC have said that they said that they will do all the necessary work and make the legal order providing GWR will foot the bill, which GWR will do as part of the planning condition. GWR have in effect a contract for GCC to do the work.

I am assured that is exactly the same obligation as when a local authority such as a District Council asks the highway authority to make a street one way, impose parking restrictions etc etc.



   

[Sapperton Tunnel]

One final post.

A phone call to someone in the know suggests that a resolution is fairly imminent with final details being worked through by officials.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) seem to be fairly confident of opening soon as the ticket machines were installed this last week.

[Bmblbzzz]

Somewhere upthread, the cost to villagers of Residents Parking Zone permits was mentioned. This need not be expensive at all. There's quite a range in permit prices around the country. In Bristol it's just £48 a year – less than a pound a week! – while in some London boroughs it's £150. There are similar variations in how many permits each household can apply for, treatment of driveways (Bristol lets you park on the street at the end of your drive for free, some places require a permit) and so on. It seems unlikely that prices in Kemble would be anywhere near the upper end of this scale, in fact there's nothing to stop Cotswold CC issuing them for free.

[didcotdean]

According to the Kemble Parish Council GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are paying for two vehicle permits per household.

Having looked through a few meeting minutes the KPC is continually bothered even with residents' parking habits, as they refer to writing to miscreants parking on pavements, on narrow roads etc

[Chris from Nailsea]

There will also be time limited loading bays for postmen, milkmen and other delivery drivers.

Well, that's a relief.  At least I should have some chance of delivering essential groceries to a Kemble village resident without being 'slapped with an ASBO', or whatever the local penalty for transgression might be. 

 

[patch38]

ASBOs? Please... This is rural Gloucestershire - you'll be blackballed from the Polo Club instead 

For those who are following developments, there's a neatly summarized update from Kemble & Ewen Parish Council on their publicly-viewable notebook page:

http://www.kemble.co.uk/images/ParishCouncil/Other/Parish_Notebbok_July_Aug_2017.pdf

[patch38]

Can anyone confirm that the new car park is now operational?

We had a very lavish envelope and brochure from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) drop onto the doormat today announcing "We heard you couldn't find a space at Kemble station..." and going on to explain the new facilities and charges, so I'm guessing it's either open or imminent.

[grahame]

Can anyone confirm that the new car park is now operational?

Customer Panel last week - in GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) achievements, slide said "we have openED" past tense, and the speaker goig though the slides also used past tense.  So that's not a definite, but a further suggestion that it is open.

[Sapperton Tunnel]

Yes, the new car park opened for business on 31st July.

There are notices at the Station and in the car park itself.

Referring to earlier posts, it was agreed between CDC (Cotswold District Council), KPC (Kemble Parish Council) and GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) that the car park could open now with the Village Parking Scheme trundling on through its bureaucratic machinations at its own pace.

Previously, the opening of the car park was dependant on the Village Parking Scheme being implemented beforehand.

The only other action was for GWR to confirm (presumably after discussions with the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)) that ongoing costs of the Parking Scheme would still be paid by future franchisees after the expiry of the present one.

GWR then withdrew their planning application to delay the traffic survey and the car park opened.

So far, I have noticed between zero and eight cars in the new car park at random times, (capacity 333), but we are not quite yet into the autumn season when the previous car parks were full and overcrowded.

There is still significant fly parking, so not every car driver is as altruistic as some hoped.

All in all, with a lot of prodding and poking, GWR have listened to local voices and have come up with a highly creditable scheme. The car park sits well into the topography and when the flora has grown, visual impact will be minimised as much as reasonably possible. Part of the planning permission granted includes maintenance intervals and routines so it should be kept clean and tidy.

I understand that the Opening jamboree will take place when the Parking Scheme is implemented.   

[patch38]

So far, I have noticed between zero and eight cars in the new car park at random times, (capacity 333), but we are not quite yet into the autumn season when the previous car parks were full and overcrowded.

There is still significant fly parking, so not every car driver is as altruistic as some hoped.
 

I used the Kemble overflow car park for the first time on Tuesday. There were five other cars in it when I arrived at 08:00 and 23 when I returned at 16:45. Some of the bays at the front of the car park look like they have never been used.

Lovely car park (and a nice, landscaped, well-lit path to the station) and under half the price of Swindon Main. But at this rate it's going to be a long return on investment for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)!

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Great Western Railway (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) press release:

HRH The Princess Royal Re-opens Kemble Station Car Park
 
Parking at Kemble Station has recently doubled, following the completion of work on a new car park officially opened by HRH The Princess Royal.
 
The £1.4 million works will provide 333 additional spaces at a new, separate car park, and was re-opened by Princess Anne driving through a ribbon at a special event to mark the occasion. A plaque was also unveiled at the station.
 
Delighted to welcome a member of The Royal Family to the station GWR’s Ben Caswell said: “More and more people are turning to rail for their local and long distance journeys; to meet this demand we recently launched our new Intercity Express Trains on the GWR network, offering more seats and more frequent services; and customers will see these new trains operate on the South Cotswold route next Summer.   
 
“GWR is dedicated to supporting the communities it serves and this new car park now complete, and improved rail services, will enable the local economy to continue to thrive both now and into the future.”
 
Presently Kemble Station 335 long stay, plus four short stay parking bays. The new car park adds an extra 333 paces.

Or spaces, presumably. 

[infoman]

station on Wednesday morning 14 august.
Posted for info only

[JayMac]

The reason BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Points West were there today was in relation to a story about the annual fares increase. The Stroud Valley Line was chosen as stations on this route have some of the highest pence per mile fares in the country.

On the main bulletin this evening, Stroud's MP^▸ (Member of Parliament), David Drew (Lab) was interviewed. He said that fares along this line had always been expensive. This was so, he said, pre-privatisation, pre-Beeching, and even pre-Brunel. Quite how he knew about fares pre-Brunel (which would have had to have been stagecoach fares) is beyond me.