Unanimous support for ABC council review of parent and toddler car-parking provision

A notice of motion, tabled by Councillor Robbie Alexander struck a chord with his council colleagues at the latest full meeting of the local authority.

Whether past or current parents of young children, elected representatives all agreed that handling toddlers in and out of narrow car-parking spaces was no easy task.

The notice of motion, which was seconded by fellow Alliance representative and Banbridge councillor, Joy Ferguson, was worded as follows: “Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon (ABC) Borough Council recognises the additional difficulties faced by parents and guardians of young children when trying to park in standard-sized parking spaces.

"Council recognises the benefits that ‘parent and toddler’ parking spaces can have in helping to facilitate easier access at high-footfall locations, and notes the implementation of such spaces at a number of private car parks locally.

"Council therefore agrees to review the existing car parking strategy for the borough, and agrees to consider implementing an appropriate number of ‘Parent and Toddler’ parking spaces at all council-maintained car parks.”

Introducing his notice of motion, Cllr Alexander (Craigavon DEA) commented: “This is a very simple motion. I’m calling for this council to review its policy and recognise the challenges faced by parents and guardians of young children when parking in standard-sized parking spaces.

"As a parent myself, I know all too well how difficult it can be to manoeuvre a young child out of the back seat of a car. You’re worried about the child getting in and out of the car safely, you’re keeping your eye out for other cars and you’re trying not to damage other cars and personal property parked next to you.

"I believe as a council we should be providing more parent and child spaces for this reason, to help parents and guardians in these situations.

"The other challenge that we face is, I would like to point out that it’s people parking in these spaces incorrectly.

"I think in certain locations we do have spaces such as these, like South Lake Leisure Centre, and we’re doing a good job with notices and announcements in the centre, asking people to be mindful of who needs the spaces most, and asking those who don’t not to park there.

"I would suggest as a possible strategy that we think about where we locate parent and child spaces.

"Often the reason for people parking incorrectly in these spaces is as a result of them being close to the front of the car park or the front door of the building. And again I know from my own experience in speaking with other parents, that we don’t necessarily always need these to be at the front of a car park.

"We’re more than happy to walk from further back in the car park, as long as there’s somewhere safe for us to get out of the car. So placing some of these spaces further back, I think will prevent people parking incorrectly in them.

"So, as the motion explains, I would like to review the existing strategy and consider implementing an appropriate number of parent and child spaces at all council car parks within our borough.”

Seconding the notice of motion, Councillor Joy Ferguson stated: “I think it’s really clear that this benefits parents, it adds to family safety in busy car parks, less anxiety for parents, particularly those with young children who use prams and baby seats.

"We would ask that the review would proportionately consider the addition of parent and toddler spaces in relation to the number of spaces in each car park, and this ensures an optimal balance of spaces for all vehicle users.

"Updating council car parks keeps them competitive with out-of-town and other commercial car parks which already offer this support and provision for families.

"This proposal supports families who want to use our town centres and will help retain footfall on high streets, so happy to second this motion.”

Councillor Kevin Savage (Sinn Féin, Banbridge DEA) recalled his days as a young parents having to handle a full car-load of young children while out shopping: “I’d like to firstly thank Cllrs Alexander and Ferguson for bringing this forward.

"Cllr Alexander related his lived experience, and I suppose thinking back 15 years trying to get three kids out of the back of a Citroën Picasso at a small car park, with prams, toys and changing bags, it brought it back home to me how difficult it is, so we very much support the sentiments of it.

"As Cllr Alexander pointed out, this is a review, it’ll bring forward all information so we as a council can make a full decision around it. That review will have details of costs and how we go about enforcing it, and things like that, so I think it’s a very good motion, and I think it’s something we as a party support, and we look forward to seeing the findings, should this motion succeed tonight.”

Alderman Margaret Tinsley (DUP, Craigavon DEA) explained that this was an issue she had been pursuing for some time: “We fully support this motion and I want to thank both councillors on bringing this to the attention of the council.

"Back in 2015, when the council was taking responsibility for the car parks across the ABC area, a number of workshops was held to discuss and develop the car-parking strategy that you are actually referring to. And during this time I requested the introduction of larger car-parking spaces across all of our areas, same model as Marks & Spencer. I had young children back in that time as well, so I understood the importance of the parent and toddler spaces.

"Unfortunately, as your policy now shows, this did not receive the support, because when the officers brought it to the actual group, they showed the figures and it was reducing too many car-parking spaces and hence a loss in revenue, so therefore that is why the larger spaces were not introduced.

"Cars are actually damaged in our car parks with people just opening them, because the standard spaces they’re not big enough. So I actually wanted to take the parent and toddler spaces that bit further, but unfortunately it didn’t receive the support for that.

"But on a positive note, when I was on the working group of the South Lake Leisure Centre, I requested [more] spaces for disability and parents and toddlers than what was actually in the original plan, and that then was agreed by the board. Again, I also highlighted that need when developing the People’s Park and when the Edenvilla masterplan was under discussion.

"On every occasion we’ve taken the opportunity to try to ensure that there is inclusion of those space, so I fully support the motion.

"I’m just not sure, are we looking at repainting the current car parks? Because if that’s the case that may be a difficulty in terms of finance. Or is this just to implement the policy going forward with any new projects?”

Cllr Alexander clarified his thinking as follows: “I think in an ideal world it would be wonderful to go and repaint all the car parks, but perhaps not all that practical.

"I think at this moment it’s just calling essentially for a review of that strategy, and I think once we are able to undertake that, then I imagine options will be presented and then we can make a more informed decision at that point. It would be nice to have a strategy that we can point to, and say this is the way that we would like to do things going forward.

"Certainly I wouldn’t rule out looking at some car parks, particularly if there are specific car parks [with] maybe some larger challenges around, but the motion at this moment is just calling for a review of that strategy.”

Councillor Thomas O’Hanlon (SDLP, Armagh DEA) revealed that he was all too aware of how difficult it can be to have to make do with a narrow parking space, when young children are on board: “Thanks, Cllr Alexander, for bringing the the motion before council tonight. I fully support the the sentiments behind it.

"While it was 15 years ago for Cllr Savage, I know what it’s like at the minute whenever you go to a car park. I actually think we should not just look at it within our own car parks, that is something that should actually help inform planning policy when it comes to approving facilities that are out there. So if there’s new retail parks or anything like that being planned across the borough, or extensions, that this needs to be informed as part of that process.

"But that’s something that I think we should pick up whenever the review of the policy comes back, but happy to support the sentiments and look forward to it coming back.”

Councillor Lavelle McIlwrath (DUP, Portadown DEA) remarked that his own daughter had raised this issue with him in recent times: “An excellent motion brought forward. Something that’s been raised with me. Indeed my own daughter raised this just maybe a week or two ago, in terms of some of the car parks in Portadown.

"Like Cllr Kevin Savage we move it on a generation and I’m trying to unload two or three rowdy toddlers, it’s quite difficult.

"Going forward, in terms of say for example Magowan West [in Portadown], who’s responsible for the management of traffic through that car park? Because it’s like a rat run. And when I’ve been unloading those toddlers a time or two, it’s really difficult in terms of safety at times.

"I’ve watched a couple of near misses in that car park, and it’s simply because the footfall moving from Magowan West Shopping Centre down the steps across to the new plaza just go at a 45-degree angle across the car park. Everybody needs to be responsible, but the demographics have changed a wee bit in that car park. In terms of safety and road traffic management through the car park, it’s maybe something we could look at on another occasion as well.”

Cllr McIlwrath indicated that he was happy for a council officer to liaise with him on that particular issue, following the meeting.

Concluding, Cllr Alexander stated: “We as a council should recognise the benefits of these spaces, and I look forward to the review and the options that will be presented as a result of this review.”

As the notice of motion presented by Cllr Alexander enjoyed unanimous support, it was consequently carried.