Home » Alan Collins »
Dangerous college parking poses serious risk to safety, says leading Medway blogger
A leading Medway blogger has attacked parking arrangements at the new Mid Kent College campus in Gillingham.
Alan Collins, who runs local news and opinion site AlanWCollins, has described the way in which students are parking as being “very likely to cause a major accident, very soon”.
Mr Collins commented, “I was driving up Prince Arthur Road at around 9am – when most students are making their way into the campus.
“Aside from the expected hoardes of students flocking in on foot, several insist on parking directly opposite the campus – dangerously parked half on the road and half on the pavement.
“This poses a significant and serious risk to the safety of the students and other road users.
“Something needs to be done … and quickly … about this parking situation, otherwise it is very likely to cause a major accident, very soon.”
But Mr Collins, whose blog was recently voted into the Total Politics Top 100 Conservative Blogs for the second year in a row, does not believe that it is the students themselves who are at fault.
“Let’s be clear, this is not a problem of the students’ own making. Mid Kent College seems to expect students to use alternative forms of transport, without giving them a clear choice.
“The roads around the campus are mostly residential, so, as a result, students are being forced into a corner, and are thus parking dangerously, decreasing the visibility up and down the road for drivers and pedestrians alike.
“Something needs to been done now, to avoid a serious incident in the near future.”
Leave a Comment
Posts
Comments
-
John M Ward: Yes, that's spot-on. This latest bid is the only way left to (re-)gain city
-
Alan W Collins: Tristan - in your rush to party politics you seem to have missed the entire
-
Tristan: Sorry; his bonus is not a contractual obligation despite the Tory Party spi
-
Alan W Collins: David - to the best of my belief (and I'm sure John Ward can correct any in
-
David Radlett: Not sure now which wombat was to blame for losing city status in the switch
Social
Read UsRSS Feed
Follow Uson Twitter
Find Uson Facebook
Alan W Collinson Linkedin
Alan W Collinson Picasa
Alan W Collinson Youtube
Awards
No Estuary Airport
10 Comments
Interesting article Alan. I believe this story of parking around Mid-Kent college may be an issue for local residential residents.
I visited the new Mid Kent college in July with a local MP and it is clear that the investment in new facilities is welcome to Medway. The new academies, universities and colleges is a legacy of the last 12 years and will hopefully rise aspiration in the towns.
I did raise the point that the parking on site may be an issue. The parking on-site is currently solely for staff at the college and with fewer parking bays pupils may seek to park in nearby residential streets.
Mid-Kent college has set up a park-and-ride scheme with the committment of a local bus company. Clearly the ‘school-run’ in the mornings will create problems, this is not unique and can actually be found outside most schools at that time! The college needs to encourage pupils to use the park-and-ride scheme and the Council may need to send a few of its army of traffic wardens to the location to target illegal parking.
As I understand pupils are using the Park-and-ride scheme but I attach the link below for other readers:
http://www.midkent.ac.uk/microsite.asp?site=36&pageid=143
Yes, I too have read the vitriol being spewed out by Mid Kent College, but it simply does not wash with me.
Don’t get me wrong, I welcome positive investment in education in Medway, but Mid Kent have, in their arrogance, created a dangerous situation by dictating to its students how they will arrive at college, rather than doing the honourable, and sensible, thing and offering them a choice.
The roads surrounding (almost all of them, in fact) are residential – in both senses of the word. Not only are they people’s homes, but they are also designated as having residential-only parking (zone G).
I was also made aware last night that parking on-site is not even adequate for the College’s staff – with spaces for only roughly half – and there are limited parking bays for disabled students.
I am aware of the situation outside schools, as I pass by many of them in my morning run, but the situation outside the college runs throughout the day. But, far from encouraging its students to use alternative transport, it is trying to force them, thus causing the problems described above.
Not only that, but if hundreds of students are expected to park at the Dockside car park, what of the Dockside, Dickens World and Odeon Cinema patrons? Are they really expecting there to be an infinite amount of space in the car park?
As for sending out some of its “army” of traffic wardens, Medway Council should, in my humble opinion, back off! I have already seen for myself one of the mob, and actually felt sick.
This is not a problem of the students’ making! I cannot stress that enough.
If Mid Kent, in their narrow-mindedness during the planning stage, had had the thought and foresight to realise that these are students, teenagers, people, then they would have had the good sense and decency to allow students to have an option.
Instead, they are forcing students, trying, it seems, to herd them like sheep to do things their way, and some students, rightfully, are having none of it.
Mid Kent College needs to sit down with Medway Council and students to come up with an amicable solution for the college staff and students alike.
It is a difficult one
I seem to remember a similar ‘choice’ when I was at University. I was informed, sometimes to my annoyance, that too many people have cars and its very difficult to accommodate all those with vehicles on any site without a massive car park nearby, which was not feasible. I bit the bullet.
Dont get me wrong – I forsee this issue will come to ahead and whilst the student body has the right to complain, like in many other further and higher education institutions, they may be informed that if they choose to park outside the college they may be liable for a parking fine because it is a residential area as well.
Agree that all interested parties should sit down before people in the area start to complain, perhaps a solution can be found.
As I also understand a number of staff may also have a few gripes with the parking; though be aware that this is sensitive. The college itself sits in Lib Dem territory (i think) so would be nice to hear where they position themselves on this issue and parking in the vicinity.
Are the student body annoyed at this?? I have not read any of the student rags yet.
Obviously I am not suggesting free parking for all, as that really is just not feasible, but the current situation is pathetic with regards to parking arrangements, although I would never seek to find the opinion of members of staff (!).
As for the local councillors, it sits on road which serves as a border between Gillingham North and River, and on the Medway Map Service, it looks as though it could lie in River Ward. However, as the surrounding roads are in Gillingham North, I would say that all five councillors could claim that they had a vested interest.
As for the student body, pass. I’m still working on getting an opinion there, but I am hopeful to be able to answer that question soon…
Having done a stint in NUS. Unless the student body is independent of the college, which in the case of FE Institutions is not common, I would be surprised if they have an elected body with much influence. I could be totally wrong.
A Vox-Pop could be an interesting idea.
I understand there is an independent student newspaper with its own editorial team but who these people
Good luck
This is all very interesting to me, as I well recall how this was pushed through the Development Control Committee by the massed votes of the Labour and LibDem members of that committee, despite all the concerns that had been raised regarding parking and transport.
It seemed to some of us to be unrealistic to expect that most students would take the park-and-ride option in practice (I wasn’t on the committee myself at that time, though, and couldn’t vote on it myself), but it was voted through and the result is what we see today.
I do not know how this can possibly be resolved: it is too far down the road now to back out or begin making plans to go elsewhere. Bear in mind also that the City Way campus students will add to the burden once their part of the new build has been completed and they too transfer to the Lower Lines location, which I believe will be at the same time next year.
Oh, I should have mentioned: the new campus is in Gillingham North ward (just over the border from River), and its main impact is to that ward’s residents and communities as well. The impact in River ward ought to be far less, though there is bound to be some effect there too.
Looking at other areas of the country, students and parking is a recurring theme at a number of HE & FE colleges.
If the development had been further out of town with more space for parking we no doubt would have had complaints it was inaccessible to those without vehicles – so it is a catch 22. I also would question whether a suitable location and funding stream would have been available. I do not know the ins-and-outs but these things are rarely simple.
Perhaps if we had a Medway Freedom Pass we would see people transferring to busses. Seems to work in Tory controlled Kent.
“A leading Medway blogger”
HAHAHAHA!
James, I think that you will find that that is an opinion which is shared by many politicos in Medway, from across the political spectrum.