Parking in Campbeltown

[WLB123]

Thanks for the invite to add to the discussion, but since the last time I parked in the town was Nov. 1979 it might not be er.....timely.

I will say this, even in those days, I would park in one place and walk to all the shops around town to do the shopping and all. It was a pleasant walk and not that far. As far as in the colder days, isn't that what wee uns at lunch are for? Just a touch to take the bite off the wind.

I would hope that a suitable place at the edge of town, like behind Woolies maybe as was suggested. The walk around to shop is not that far except for those with health issues that might require a middle town section reserved for them.

My 2 pence worth.

Walt

[SBpete]

I heard a rumour that the gates of the Lorn and Lowland Church may be about to be closed during the week.
Does anyone know if this is true? If this is the case then I think that the town would need more parking.
I park there, as I am able to walk to work and I live on Longrow. I leave my car there all week, as do other residents, and would probably need to start parking in Burside Square, reducing the number of spaces for people shopping etc

[judge roy bean]

several interesting points been made, tho not much thought gone into some of them. filling in a bit of the loch for carparking a good idea until access is needed to that pipeline? what about that vacant lot on glebe st opposite mcfadyens? there could be room for between 80-100 cars there.

the old post office garage on glebe st, could be used too, but of course they are not near enough to the main st for all the local tradespeople who have to sit there in their vans eating sandwiches and rolls at 10am every morning. plus of course nobody has mentioned the campbeltown disease, we all know locals who have to take their car to every single shop in longrow and main st that they are visiting which might mean up to three or four different parking spaces as they are incapable of walking more then 20yds.

i say make main st a pedestrian precinct from woolworths to the club corner, with bolgam st and barochan one way, with no parking on either (mckinven & colville yard, parking for residents, but hasn't it been sold for building on?) longrow south up to mafeking ped prec. also.

i thought that most people who take a car to work in town centre already park behind vic or in longrow church( vic carpark should be shopkeepers parking only by permit) the work on the pier is taking away about 20 or so spaces at the moment, when its finished there could be more spaces available there? the water side of the carraigeway could be widened by making the central reservation narrower and cars made to park diagonal, parking on kinloch rd could be marked out the same which would make room for another 20-40 spaces, likewise all along the esplanade could have diagonal parking with signs directing visitors to this area, visitors don't mind a walk along the front to get to the town centre, it offers the visitor the view out the loch over the harbour to look at as the walk. have you ever been to dunoon and had to walk half a mile or more to get into the town centre along the front? you just do it because thats where the parking spaces are usually to be found and it avoids the narrow one way system.

a lot of these options could be implemented for the cost of a few signs and some paint, the only reason locals would oppose them is because they believe its their god given right to take the car, park in main st, go to woolworths, get in the car, drive up to mcilcheres, park again, to go there, the chemists or george mcmillans, then round half the town to find a parking space in longrow just ot go to the bank or wallys or cochranes.

you wouldn't go to glasgow and use three different carparks while shopping in sauchiehall st and argyle st, why should it be any different here?OH, you do? must just be me then? if you can walk from sauchiehall st to argyle st why can't you walk the length of main st without moving your car at least once. we all know this happens, we all know people who do this every single day, i know people who will go home without the thing they went out for because they couldn't get a space outside the shop.

it's a generational thing, i remember when i was a lad there were 5 or 6 cars between the top of hillside bray and the roading, now every house seems to have at least two cars, my mother often has to park more than 100yds from her front door in the middle of the day, when you would expect there to be more spaces available. (thats with every fourth or fifth house having a drive in). there must be a car for every three people in campbeltown

i'm not really a driver, never have been and i know if i was i would be like everyone else and grab the HANDY SPACE, so you can't criticise, but if those that be, just thought about it, and implemented some of the views suggested in this thread by myself and others, there would be an easy solution, without any pie in the sky underground parking theories which are ridiculous and i hope made only in jest, tho with this lot you never really know?

[vinyl junkie]

Hello everyone! Sorry if the debate is now closed but I've only just signed up to the forum. Someone suggested moving Woolworth to Wallace's old shop but why not just level the back area of Wallace's and build a two-level car park? Some of that area used to be a lorry park before it was built on so access wouldn't be a problem and with buildings surrounding it there shouldn't be any problems about concrete eyesores in the middle of town.

[Kintyre Forum News]

Might be a sign of things to come...

NEW PARKING RESTRICTIONS ON BUTE

Motorists in Bute are asked to be aware that parking restrictions on the island have changed.

The Argyll and Bute Council (Rothesay Town Centre) (Traffic Management and Amendment) Order 2007 was approved on May 28th and the new restrictions are now in place.

These include restricted waiting times at the new layout in Rothesay’s East Princes Street, Albert Place, Bishop Street and Victoria Street, as well as no parking at various junctions, including those on Bishop Street, Bridgend Street and East Princes Street.

Additional disabled parking has also been put in place in Bishop Street, Castle Street, Victoria Street, Montague Street and Dean Hood Place. The loading access times for businesses in Montague Street have also changed and will now be from 8am until 10am.

The Traffic Order is intended to improve traffic movements around Rothesay and also, by having limited waiting times, will provide more parking for shoppers.

The order was commissioned in response to complaints from people who were having difficulty in accessing junctions and parking, with some vehicles parked most of the day.

The Council has also responded to the need for additional and better defined disabled parking provision.

The required signs and lines are now being applied and the regulations in the Order will be effective immediately. The police will monitor the changes for a short period before imposing fines to those who do not abide by the restrictions.

[The Hitman]

In my opinion if the council technicians could get it through, then herringbone parking is the way to go. Increases parking spaces by a vast amount. Heck the streets are wide enough, even if you only selected one side of the street for herringbone parking and moved the carraigeway over, there would still be room for the legal width requirement on a number of roads throughout campbeltown.

[Ship called Dignity]

In my opinion if the council technicians could get it through, then herringbone parking is the way to go. Increases parking spaces by a vast amount. Heck the streets are wide enough, even if you only selected one side of the street for herringbone parking and moved the carraigeway over, there would still be room for the legal width requirement on a number of roads throughout campbeltown.

Totally agree with the Herringbone style - think however, you could only really have this on Kinloch Road?

Funny to read one of the Councillors ideas to cut a bit off of Park Square to allow the lorrys to turn straight into Saddell Street. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe this idea was raised by Jim Martin sometime ago at a community council meeting....

[Dunc]

I think it was to help the Vestas lorries it was mentioned.
Personally I,m all for halfing the inner harbour North/South and filling it in.(Old Parliament Square and Park Square debris would have helped.)The fishermen would still have beach area left of course.A few palm trees seats and hey presto a big scenic area emerges

Dunc

[deirdreh]

Interestingly, parking was probably one of the most important issues highlighted when I was out canvassing, after the state of the roads. As with all the issues and ideas from canvassing - these have been passed on to the elected Councillors.

For people living around Longrow and Main Street the problem that they have since the Lorne and Lowland Church closed its gates is that they cannot park near their homes, they cannot leave their cars in Burnside Square overnight and they cannot park near the swimming pool as they often cannot get a place and they do not want to walk down the closes at night.

For people coming in to town this is also a big problem. There is also a shortage of parking at the health centre, on Castlehill, and at the swimming pool. This is made worse by the work being done on the quay taking away spaces just now.

I would personally not like to see parking meters or parking permits. Usually Councils give out far more permits than they allocate spaces so nobody is better off other that the Council's coffers.

I would think it better that parking be prioritised as far along Longrow towards Main Street as possible to protect the small shops' trade. Maybe the Council could lease or buy vacant land from the distillery or McKinven & Colville?

I also think that one side of Union Street should be double yellow as unfortunately there are a lot of drivers out there who do not seem to realise that their parking is blocking traffic and forcing drivers to reverse back on to Longrow South. I do not know what the emergency services do?

[The Hitman]

I think it was to help the Vestas lorries it was mentioned.
Personally I,m all for halfing the inner harbour North/South and filling it in.(Old Parliament Square and Park Square debris would have helped.)The fishermen would still have beach area left of course.A few palm trees seats and hey presto a big scenic area emerges

Dunc

Sounds good but I think you will find that the required amount of infill would be far greater than the remnants of the Demoliton Works. It would also take about 2/3 years to complete and how many folf in the town would complain of the noise/views etc during construction.

I'm sure I can remember a few years ago the Roads Design Department of the Council had plans for the town, new road layouts etc, quite a few one way systems and even the thought of pedestrianising Longrow South, looked excellent at the time but the locals threw, I think it was 6 ideas out. Just think, we could have had a nice shiny town centre with a beautiful focal point right in the middle of town. With Park benches, trees, street cafe's? But we still have the same dreary streets!

[The Hitman]

I totally agree with the Herringbone style - think however, you could only really have this on Kinloch Road?

How come Davie?

[Willie D]

I totally agree with the Herringbone style - think however, you could only really have this on Kinloch Road?

How come Davie?

Naw sure about this masel'. Since the pool opened we residents of Kinloch Road have a helluva time finding a space - quite often I have to use the pool car park - do their customers think it's only for staff I wonder?

[Beachcomber]

I totally agree with the Herringbone style - think however, you could only really have this on Kinloch Road?

How come Davie?

Down to the width of the road, I guess, if you were to have it both sides and still have room for two lanes of traffic. If you were to do it only one side then I'd have thought Longrow would be wide enough.

[Willie D]

If memory serves me correctly I think Kinloch Road had 'herringbone' parking many moons ago on 'the green' side. Suppose it would allow me to park a wee bit closer to my hoose. Sometimes I'm nearly at Tesco!

[The Hitman]

That's the beauty of herringbone parking, it will increase capacity by 2/3 times conventional parking. Longrow is certainly wide enough, only issue I could forsee is the shopkeepers complaining if all cars were parked on the opposite side of the street from their shop - it may detract customers, can't see it myself!

What about the dual carraigeway, reduce the footway a wee bit and possobly the central reservation and hey presto, plenty of room for herringbone parking and more spaces in the centre of town.