Council to remove new yellow lines after failing to follow correct proceedures

Elgan Hearn, local democracy reporter

A county council is remove newly painted double yellow lines after admitting it had failed to follow the correct traffic regulations process.

On Tuesday (2 July) under delegated powers, Powys County Council’s Cabinet member for highways, Liberal Democrat Cllr Jackie Charlton agreed to extend parking restrictions at Penybryn in Crossgates.

Five days will be allowed to pass just in case the decision is “called-in” by councillors for scrutiny, before it comes into force on Wednesday, July 10.

The first stage of the process would be to hold a month long consultation on the proposal and if no objections are received the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) will be implemented.

An article published by the Local Democracy Reporting Service earlier this week reported the yellow lines decision was imminent, however bemused residents have complained that yellow lines have already been painted and contacted the council to find out what’s going on.

Cockup

One resident said that the council will put public notices up on lampposts and in newspapers to publicise a consultation and how to go about responding to it. They said: “I think someone at the council has made a bit of a cockup.

“We were told the yellow lines extension should not have been painted as they have not been approved.

A Powys County Council spokesman said: “The council is to carry out consultation on proposals to introduce further parking restrictions to prevent inconsiderate parking and obstruction to the free flow of traffic at Penybryn, Crossgates.

“However, double-yellow lines have been installed without following the correct traffic regulation order process.

“The double-yellow lines will now be removed.”

In the report on the TRO Powys south area traffic engineer Joanne Lancey explained that a site meeting had been held at the location in the past to discuss the parking problems at Penybryn

Ms Lancey said: “There is significant inconsiderate parking, particularly near the junction and along to the 90- degree bend.

“This makes accessing Penybryn difficult most of the time.

“To help prevent this inconsiderate parking it would be beneficial to extend the existing parking restrictions to include the bend.

“The local member has also made representations to have these restrictions extended.”

The report adds that the cost of the work will be paid by the North and Mid Wales Trunk Road Agency who manage the network on behalf of the Welsh Government.