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M Mellan Date: 4^th June 2009

Dear Sir/Madam

Freedom of Information Request

I refer to your recent Freedom of Information Request. Your request asked for the following information: -

Your request

I live in Sunderland road south shields, in the area effected, we the residents were sent a request by the council to say if we wanted change to the parking in Sunderland road, I received a letter back from the council saying that they had received 29 decisions back, 14 were for change and 15 were for to stay as they are now, so you would think ok they stay as they are. but no the council go with the 14 who lost the decision, so I asked a local councillor, for that area, mr capstick, spoke on the telephone, he would find out and get back to me, never got back, so I emailed him no reply, got in contact with highways department, got reply saying they will check it out and get back to me, never got back, now the council have put up notices in the area effected asking if anyone has any complaints about the change to contact them, this I have done, this is a busy road used by buses and all other vehicles, also narrow at the point which the changes will effect, the last thing it needs is people parking vehicles, which will end up on the pavement as road narrow , also additions have been put in , a single lane access road, glenhirst, has been made no waiting at any time , there's no traffic here , only 5 houses , dead end ,one house is a councillors house ,would that have any effect ,seems alright in your yard but not in mine ,who made this decision ,so no parking where there no traffic ,and parking where heres busy traffic ?

Council's response

I can confirm the following information with regards to your FOI request above.

1. Proposed alteration of Existing Traffic Regulation Order on Sunderland road, South Shields

On 03 April 2008 a report was submitted to East Shield Community Forum.

This report followed a petition received at the Forum meeting on 29 November objecting to the existing parking restrictions at 241 - 251 Sunderland Road, South Shields.

The petition contained 6 signatures from 6 residential properties in Sunderland Road. The petition read as follows:

(i) The ideal solution would consist of the removal of the parking restriction for the

length of road.

(ii) A controlled scheme to permit a measure of residential parking could provide a

sensible alternative.

(iii) A review of the existing signed controls and alteration of the existing traffic

regulation order.

The report advised that Sunderland Road was an important strategic route and that the existing regulation which was from 8am - 8pm to be amended to 8am - 6pm following satisfactory consultation.

On the 13th March a letter /plan and questionnaire were distributed to the affected area outlining the proposals for the amendment of the existing Traffic Regulation order. The results of the consultation are as follows:

112 questionnaires were distributed in the affected area and we received 29 replies. Of those replies 14 were in favour of the proposals and 15 against.

As the result of the consultation process was inconclusive with no clear mandate, it was agreed that the scheme should be taken forward to next stage of the consultation process. This would give further opportunities to residents to comments on the scheme during statutory legal process.

2. Petition Requesting Waiting Restrictions, Glenhurst Grove, South Shields

On 03 July 2008 a report was submitted and approved by East Shield Community Forum.

This report was presented following receipt of a petition from residents of Glenhurst Grove, containing 10 signatures requesting a No waiting At Any Time restriction along Glenhurst Grove.

Subject to the usual Statutory Consultation procedures being carried out satisfactorily It was agreed that No Waiting At Any Time be introduced along the full length of Glenhurst Grove and in accordance with the resident's wishes.

I hope this information is assistance to you.

Copyright procedure

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use this information for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you re doing and news reporting. Any other re-use of this information, for example commercial publication requires the permission of the Council as the Copyright holder. All re-use requests will be treated under the Re-Use of Public Information Regulation 2006.

Appeal procedure

Should you wish to appeal against the decision made about this matter you can write to the Records Management Team Leader to have your case reviewed by our Internal Review Panel. This should be sent to us within four weeks and must clearly state the reasons for your appeal and your FOI reference number. The Records Management Team address is as follows: Records Management Team, Town Hall and Civic Buildings, Westoe Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2RL.

Information Commissioner's office (ICO)

Should you remain dissatisfied, you can appeal against our final decision by writing to the Information Commissioner to have your case independently reviewed.

The Information Commissioner is the Government's Independent Body responsible for overseeing the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

Please do note that the ICO will only review cases that have exhausted the Council's internal appeal procedures. All correspondence to the ICO must quote the Council's reference number and your reasons for your appeal.

The ICO's contact details are as follows: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF. More information can be found on the ICO's website at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.

If you have any further queries about this matter then please do not hesitate to contact me on the number below:

Yours sincerely

Bill Buckley

Head of Streetscape

Tel: 0191 427 2652

Email: [email address]