Anger from commuters and businesses as Sheffield Council plans to enforce double yellow lines on city roads

Sheffield Council has approved controversial new parking measures on two city roads despite over 200 angry objections from businesses and employees.
Cars parked on Blast Lane where double yellow lines will force commuters to park elsewhereCars parked on Blast Lane where double yellow lines will force commuters to park elsewhere
Cars parked on Blast Lane where double yellow lines will force commuters to park elsewhere

People will soon not be able to park their car on Cadman Street, Blast Lane and Sussex Street near the Wicker after council bosses passed a motion to introduce double yellow lines and time limited single yellow line waiting restrictions.

The proposals received three objection letters from nearby businesses, 10 from Capita employees and a petition with 204 signatures signed by the firm's workers. No expressions of support were received.

Cars parked on Blast LaneCars parked on Blast Lane
Cars parked on Blast Lane
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The council say the new restrictions will improve safety and improve access for the Emmaus shop which helps homeless people in Sheffield.

In 2014, the council were contacted by Hilary Bradley, section administrator, Network Rail who requested the introduction of double yellow line parking restrictions on Blast Lane, Cadman Street and Sussex Street to prevent parking that blocks sight lines at junctions and obstructs the traffic flow.

Ms Bradley’s concern was that, if an incident occurred on the railway, Network Rail might be unable to deploy personnel from their depot on Blast Lane to deal with it.

The council also received letters of concern regarding the parking situation from Sheffield Central MP Paul Blomfield in 2015 and 2016. He requested parking provision for the Emmaus shop situated on Blast Lane.

Blast Lane where many city centre commuters park their carBlast Lane where many city centre commuters park their car
Blast Lane where many city centre commuters park their car
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But the new proposals have caused anger with commuters and business owners in the area.

One Capita employee said: "This is a valuable parking place for Capita employees. Our building doesn't have capacity for us all to park in our staff car park. Enforcing this order would not be fair to people that park their car there every day which doesn't cause any obstruction. I feel that with enforcing this order people will have to pay to use public car park at a fee which some of us simply cannot afford.

Another Capita worker said: "We all have to make a living as well as the companies around Blast Lane and some people are on low income and the parking charges in car parks can take a big chunk out of people’s wages. We are not all on mega bucks and some live out of the area and public transport is not an option."

In the report presented to councillors, John Priestly, senior transport planner at Sheffield Council said: "It is acknowledged that Capita employees and other commuters who park in this area will be inconvenienced.

Cars parked on Blast LaneCars parked on Blast Lane
Cars parked on Blast Lane
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"However, by removing unsafe, illegal and obstructive parking and providing parking for a charity facility that assists homeless persons the proposed measures are considered to have a positive impact overall."