Southsea councillor - commercial vehicle park is not the answer to parking problems
A COUNCILLOR representing the most densely populated ward in Portsmouth believes the creation of a commercial vehicle park is not the solution to all of the city's traffic woes.
Cllr Suzy Horton, Lib Dem for Central Southsea, says the council must re-instate parking zones it has axed in her area if it wants to ease congestion on residential streets.
It comes despite Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt revealing her plan for a van park following scores of complaints from residents about the number of work vehicles clogging up their roads at night.
Cllr Horton said: ‘What I don’t think it would do is solve the problem in Central Southsea, as I don’t think the major, major problems are the vans compared to perhaps some other areas.
‘The problem we have got is the extra cars from students and the extra congestion.
‘I honestly do believe the best thing is to reinstate the parking zones that were taken away, then introduce them in the surrounding areas because they had requested them, and what we then do is deal with issues that occur.
‘The displacement issue is exaggerated.
‘Having the MB and MC zones in Southsea reduced the number of cars, because I know lots of students didn’t bring their cars back.’