Furious residents have vented their anger at “utter disgrace” new “eyesore” council bollards that stop them from parking outside their own homes.
People in Willerby, near Hull, East Yorkshire, have parked on the wide paved area in Abbey Grove. The pavement sits by a large raised verge which crosses over to road level, which means there is a lack of on-street parking close to houses.
But parents of children at a nearby school complained to the council that people were driving along the footpath and East Riding of Yorkshire Council has now installed the wooden bollards to “ensure the safety of pedestrians”.
The council claims that residents were informed in advance and were “offered the chance to pay to have a vehicles access installed to their homes”.
The authority added it was illegal to drive on the pavement, and photographs show a forest of new bollards now guarding it, HullLive reports.
But angry locals claim the pavement was wide enough to allow pedestrians and the bollards serve only as “unnecessary eyesore” and “a waste of money”.
One resident asked how his disabled father-in-law could be expected to navigate the steep verge now that he cannot park next to the house, while others lamented the thousands they would have to spend to have a driveway installed thanks to the bollards.
Karl Elbeck, 47, said: “These bollards are a complete and utter disgrace.
“There hasn’t been an accident down here since the 1970s so why are the bollards necessary? I have a disabled father-in-law and now we can’t park the car next to the house for him to get out.
“In winter, this grass verge is an ice rink, so how on earth is he supposed to get down it safely? The same goes for delivery drivers. What am I meant to do about it if I can’t afford to spend thousands having a driveway put in?
“This is such a pretty area, but these bollards are an absolute eyesore. We can kiss bye-bye to our house prices now. All of the work is half-arsed as well, you can see the tarmac coming away. The stopcock outside my house has suddenly started overflowing since the bollards were put in, too.”
Jim Dennett, 74, said: “It’s a disgrace, they put them in yesterday to stop people parking outside their own homes. The council seem to get these ideas into their heads but I just don’t think this has been thought through.”
One resident, who already has a driveway, still felt the bollards were an unnecessary waste of money.
She said: “It’s all a bit silly, isn’t it? It just feels like a moneymaking scheme from the council to me. No one ever got their cars blocked in before, and it wasn’t unsafe, so it feels like they’re just pressuring people to get driveways put in.”
A spokesman for East Riding of Yorkshire Council said: “Following complaints we received from parents taking children to the school on Well Lane, Willerby, that people were driving along the footpath between Ashgate Road and Bellfield Drive, the council has installed wooden bollards in the path to ensure the safety of pedestrians.
“Local residents were informed of the move by letter in advance and, as they are private houses, they were offered the chance to pay to have a vehicles access installed to their homes to help them park their cars. Several residents took up the offer.
Responding to the claims of an overflowing stopcock and the difficulty faced by disabled residents to access their homes, the council added: “The site was visited on Wednesday and the stopcock wasn’t seen to be leaking. Any defects like this should be reported to Yorkshire Water.”
