County Council takes action on dangerous parking

Derbyshire County Council workers are painting double yellow lines at several locations in the county that have seen issues caused by dangerous parking over the past few months.

The lines are to be painted on roads around Carsington Water reservoir in the Derbyshire Dales, Foremark Reservoir in South Derbyshire, and on two roads in Wirksworth, Derbyshire Dales, near a disused quarry.

Despite both Carsington and Foremark having car parks, visitors are parking on nearby roads, leading to congestion and obstruction.

In Wirksworth people have been parking at the top of Green Hill and The Dale to visit Middle Peak Quarry. These roads are narrow and in places steep, and the volume of traffic has caused issues for local people.

Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Infrastructure, Councillor Simon Spencer, said: “We have seen some ridiculous scenes across the county over the past few months.  People have just been abandoning their cars wherever they like with no regard to other people, or their own safety. This has meant there have been some accidents at these places.

“By putting down these double yellow lines our parking officers will be able to visit regularly and we will issue tickets to those who park on top of them.  It is galling that we are having to spend tax payers’ money on these lines, but we must take action to keep people safe.

“If there is space in the car parks at Carsington or Foremark then people should park there. The fee is only small and by paying for your parking you are helping to pay for the very attraction you are visiting.

“No one should be visiting Middle Peak Quarry, it is private land and is not somewhere people should be going.  I hope the action we are taking here stops people causing a nuisance to local residents."

The cost of this work is £25,000 and has been carried out this week by our contractors.  We are also looking at other locations in the county where double yellow lines could help alleviate problem parking.