Commuters spark parking row near Musgrove Park Hospital (From This is The West Country)

Although I sympathise with the residents anyone paying car tax has the right to park wherever they please.

The hospital should be providing free parking for its own staff.

When the government choose to charge £250 to tax a 1.8 people carrier for 12 months you do expect some free parking ?? Don't you??

You note that its the residents of belmont and musgrove road who have time to sit outside the council houses and protest. Don't see the deane drive residents kicking off. I have never parked down either of those roads wouldnt dare leave my car there rough as a badgers bottom.

When the government choose to charge £250 to tax a 1.8 people carrier for 12 months you do expect some free parking ?? Don't you??

You note that its the residents of belmont and musgrove road who have time to sit outside the council houses and protest. Don't see the deane drive residents kicking off. I have never parked down either of those roads wouldnt dare leave my car there rough as a badgers bottom.

DonSeer wrote:
Although I sympathise with the residents anyone paying car tax has the right to park wherever they please.

The hospital should be providing free parking for its own staff.

The hospital did not have enough parking to satisfy the demand of there staff. So about 7 years ago they signed a deal with qpark to take control of it and build a multi story thus solving the problem.


However staff have to pay!!! Some get permits they pay for which doesn't even guarantee them a space in the staff areas. They then have to use the multi storey which apparently some female members find dark dangerous at night.

There is a solution to the parking problem that burdens so many in the Musgrove Road area of Taunton it is for the hospital to provide free underground car parking similar to that shown at:
http://www.woehr.de/
en/projekte/budapest
_p580/
if it wants to retain essential staff. If not then relocation of the hospital to an out of town location with ample car parking for all seems the only alternative. Meantime those in the Musgrove Road area will have little alternative but to request more and more vehicles to be moved by the police for reasons of obstruction: few penalty points for drivers and a few brownie points for Plod!

Typically emotive, unbalanced, poorly researched and scratch-the-surface type story from the County Gazette. It doesn't even begin to cover the issues properly or talk to the people who have something serious to say about them. Weak journalism. That said, it is a local issue worth covering.
The fact is that there are more staff than there are parking spaces at Musgrove, and so parking spills out onto the surrounding roads. Workers are perfectly within their rights to park in these streets, and who can blame them? Residents do not own the highways, and it is road users car tax that pays for their maintenance, not council tax on property.
The residents in these roads should be lobbying for residents only parking. That way they can have their own parking space and pay for it, as they should have to if they want it for themselves.
Henley Road is another one that suffers outside of normal office hours, but again the residents are expecting hospital staff to stay away, despite the problems of parking elsewhere.
This is just not realistic. These roads are public highway and parking is a legitimate right for car taxpayers. I appreciate it is an irritation for householders who have visitors, but then I have the same problem where I live. Its almost universal nowadays. These folks need to pursue the residents only option, which has left other parts of Taunton clear of parked vehicles (some might say thats a waste of useful space), or pipe down and suffer in silence. Blaming the car drivers is not the answer. The problem is created by town planners and highways officers who are not establishing a realistic infrastructurs in the first place!

The problem is created by the fat and lazy society we live in, god forbid that these people who live within 3 miles of the hospital get on there bikes and cycle in. I know doctors who commute from Wellington and north petherton by bicycle, yet the overweight chain smoking office staff that I have parked outside my house couldn't possibly do this. Also many of the cars that I see parked arrive within the opening hours of the park and ride and other forms of public transport. Roll on residents permits I say!

Well said worldlywiseman , the planners and developers have really ruined Taunton. Like the old saying goes, "the town planners do more damage than the Luftwaffe ever did!
"

to all those that commented that if u pay car tax u have the right to park where you want.. here is my reply.
you have the right to DRIVE where you want but not where you park.
i think it might be a better protest if the residents took a note of the registrations of the cars that are not their, which are at their house, find out where those people live and inconveniently park outside of their houses for a few days. after all they will be happy to do so, going by their own logic.

to all those that commented that if u pay car tax u have the right to park where you want.. here is my reply.
you have the right to DRIVE where you want but not where you park.
i think it might be a better protest if the residents took a note of the registrations of the cars that are not their, which are at their house, find out where those people live and inconveniently park outside of their houses for a few days. after all they will be happy to do so, going by their own logic.

Residents parking permits would solve the problem however the local councillor tells me that they can't do it road by road (that's to logical) they have to do whole of gallington and Comeytrowe and there have been strong objections from some residents and no will from TDBC do of it even though the the permits would raise revenue in the longer term.

There is no will from the local council to sort these type of issues and I am told some of the roads are highways responsibility as well like gallington road.

worldlywiseman wrote:
Typically emotive, unbalanced, poorly researched and scratch-the-surface type story from the County Gazette. It doesn't even begin to cover the issues properly or talk to the people who have something serious to say about them. Weak journalism. That said, it is a local issue worth covering.
The fact is that there are more staff than there are parking spaces at Musgrove, and so parking spills out onto the surrounding roads. Workers are perfectly within their rights to park in these streets, and who can blame them? Residents do not own the highways, and it is road users car tax that pays for their maintenance, not council tax on property.
The residents in these roads should be lobbying for residents only parking. That way they can have their own parking space and pay for it, as they should have to if they want it for themselves.
Henley Road is another one that suffers outside of normal office hours, but again the residents are expecting hospital staff to stay away, despite the problems of parking elsewhere.
This is just not realistic. These roads are public highway and parking is a legitimate right for car taxpayers. I appreciate it is an irritation for householders who have visitors, but then I have the same problem where I live. Its almost universal nowadays. These folks need to pursue the residents only option, which has left other parts of Taunton clear of parked vehicles (some might say thats a waste of useful space), or pipe down and suffer in silence. Blaming the car drivers is not the answer. The problem is created by town planners and highways officers who are not establishing a realistic infrastructurs in the first place!

You seem to be under the illusion that you pay car tax & it funds the roads, well you actually pay Vehicle Excise Duty which goes straight in the taxmans pocket for the Government to do with as they please. Motorways and major roads are funded and maintained by the highways agency with their funding coming direct from central Government whilst all other roads funded locally from local taxation ie. Council Tax, therefore you could say the residents do pay for the space outside their house just as you do yours. The name Vehicle Excise Duty was bought in to replace car tax or Road Fund Licence so the Government could get away with fleecing drivers and not spending it on roads.

FreeSpeech? wrote:

worldlywiseman wrote:
Typically emotive, unbalanced, poorly researched and scratch-the-surface type story from the County Gazette. It doesn't even begin to cover the issues properly or talk to the people who have something serious to say about them. Weak journalism. That said, it is a local issue worth covering.
The fact is that there are more staff than there are parking spaces at Musgrove, and so parking spills out onto the surrounding roads. Workers are perfectly within their rights to park in these streets, and who can blame them? Residents do not own the highways, and it is road users car tax that pays for their maintenance, not council tax on property.
The residents in these roads should be lobbying for residents only parking. That way they can have their own parking space and pay for it, as they should have to if they want it for themselves.
Henley Road is another one that suffers outside of normal office hours, but again the residents are expecting hospital staff to stay away, despite the problems of parking elsewhere.
This is just not realistic. These roads are public highway and parking is a legitimate right for car taxpayers. I appreciate it is an irritation for householders who have visitors, but then I have the same problem where I live. Its almost universal nowadays. These folks need to pursue the residents only option, which has left other parts of Taunton clear of parked vehicles (some might say thats a waste of useful space), or pipe down and suffer in silence. Blaming the car drivers is not the answer. The problem is created by town planners and highways officers who are not establishing a realistic infrastructurs in the first place!

You seem to be under the illusion that you pay car tax & it funds the roads, well you actually pay Vehicle Excise Duty which goes straight in the taxmans pocket for the Government to do with as they please. Motorways and major roads are funded and maintained by the highways agency with their funding coming direct from central Government whilst all other roads funded locally from local taxation ie. Council Tax, therefore you could say the residents do pay for the space outside their house just as you do yours. The name Vehicle Excise Duty was bought in to replace car tax or Road Fund Licence so the Government could get away with fleecing drivers and not spending it on roads.

You pay VED to the goverment and they pay the highways and local authorities to maintain the roads, it's largely irrelevant.

The reason fuel duty was brought in as yet another tax on fuel was to pay for the upkeep of the roads so one way or another if your car is fully road legal and you paid for the fuel in the tank you have a right to park were the law allows on public highway.

Winston Churchill abolished road tax in 1937. Google it.
The money paid for Vehicle Excise Duty, what most people refer to as road tax doesn't directly contribute to the upkeep of roads.
If a vehicle is legal it has the right to drive and park anywhere, legally.
The only way forward is residents parking. Time to cough up more money.

I can understand why people visiting the hospital park on the roads nearby, as the car park prices are ridiculous. maybe people could park in town and park in the concrete jungle by the castle hotel, after all it is much bigger than the car park that was pulled to pieces to create it , or as an alternative, the park and ride buses go to SCAT and it is only a a short walk to the hospital, if yo are able to walk that far.

How about taking the permits away from all those who work normal office hours as they can use the park & ride, then give the afore said permits to those who really need them ie. the staff who work unsociable hours. Make sure the Management lead by example for once.

FreeSpeech? wrote:
How about taking the permits away from all those who work normal office hours as they can use the park & ride, then give the afore said permits to those who really need them ie. the staff who work unsociable hours. Make sure the Management lead by example for once.

Good point but it doesnt help people who are visiting loved ones in hospital.

My mother was in Frenchay for around 5 weeks where it was £2.00 for 2hrs (it did go up to £2.50 in the last couple weeks).

She has been in Musgrove since 19th September and is likely to stay there for another month or 2, at least, with no departure date at present.

The cost of parking soon adds up, even with concessions for visiting patients who are in long term.

I have to admit I park on surounding streets but a bit further away to avoid people boxing me in or fools parking opposite pretty much blocking the road for other users.

I had to squeeze past two cars parked opposite each other, albeit stagged in Henley Road last Saturday. I had around 2 inches to spare on both sides of my vehicle. Didnt help that both cars were parked around a foot from the kerb!!! Inconsiderate parking tarnishes us all!

I have read the comment about the on street parking of those who work at Musgrove Park Hospital and those who need to visit for whatever good reason. My conclusion is that the problems experienced derive from the total inadequacy of parking provisions within the hospital itself. Not only is the
parking at the hospital insufficient for all needs but it is expensive and furthermore only seems to
cater for the smallest of cars in the multi-storey facility: I tried it one day and found myself unable to
open the car door enough to get out. What is needed is more readily available secure car parking at
the hospital and around the town of Taunton rather than an argument concerning on street parking
and so called resident parking permits. Underground car parking facilities should be considered in addition to those above ground where space is at a premium: in this context systems exist where cars are parked and retrieved mechanically without personal driving input thus obviating damage to vehicles.