Parking changes will not only kill Sheffield’s Golden Mile (Ecclesall Road) but also up-and-coming Abbeydale Road - reader's letter

These two statements have been further confirmed by the council’s latest crazy idea to create Red Routes on Ecclesall Road and Abbeydale Road, meaning that no vehicles can stop under any circumstances.

The knock-on effects on the business communities in these areas are inestimable and all to appease the green lobby and the cycling lobby.

I manage a business on the Abbeydale corridor and observe with wry amusement the antics of the Parking Services Department.

They go up Abbeydale Road once, usually around 4.30 (many days not at all) and then are never seen again, resulting in offenders driving round the block and straight back to their illegal parking spot.

The smart new electric vans always work in pairs and in convoy, presumably for protection or is it job demarcation?

Each van has two operatives so when a parking ticket is issued, there are three operatives sitting in the vans whilst the fourth photographs the offending car and the nearest lamp post displaying the ‘no waiting’ sign.

This is a time-consuming process – so what happened to the camera vans we were promised?

The council are spending thousands of pounds with a private company to conduct a survey among residents and businesses on the new proposals.

We all know what the result will be so why hasn’t this money been spent on extra vans and operatives?

Constantly cruising camera vans would solve the problem immediately but presumably they never happened as they offended someone’s human rights.

I have also noticed that the wardens never cross the road to issue a ticket on the other side. Is this a health and safety issue or just sheer idleness?

In conversations with wardens, they tell me that they rarely issue tickets on the long London Road stretch as the fines are often not paid so are usually written off.

The double yellow lines outside the takeaways on London Road at the bottom of Sharrow Lane are also ignored at most times of the day or night but no-one seems to ever get ticketed.

If the clearways were policed properly between the hours of 4pm and 6.30pm, it would not be necessary to tweak the bus lanes or the bus lane times.

However, if the idea of the Red Routes is to get us to leave our cars at home, it just won’t work.

If the Red Routes are allowed to go ahead, they will not only kill Sheffield’s Golden Mile (Ecclesall Road) but also up-and-coming Abbeydale Road which is just starting to get itself together but will be strangled at birth.

Not only will many family businesses be destroyed but also many family lives.

J Green

Sheffield, S7