4:05pm Thursday 16th July 2009
By Kathie Griffiths
A mum and daughter who spent their life savings to open a children’s play centre fear they could be driven out of business in a parking row.
Lynne O’Neill and daughter Karen Jackson were stunned when Bradford Council workmen turned up and painted white lines and boxes outside Funsters, in Harry Street, Dudley Hill, Bradford.
Even though there had been faded parking restrictions from when Dudley Hill First School, now shut, was on the site, the pair had been given planning permission to open their child’s play venture with on-street parking.
“But now it seems the Council has decided to re-impose restrictions which will finish off the business we have worked so hard for,” said Mrs O’Neill.
“For the first three years we worked seven days a week, ploughing everything we made back in to the business. Now we are able to pay a few staff and keep our heads just above the water. Funsters was my daughter’s dream.
“Our customers will vote with their feet. If they can’t park outside, they just won’t come. I could cry when I think about it.”
Customers can still park in the boxes outside but only for 20 minutes in an hour at a time. “That’s no good because it’s not long enough and they’ll get tickets if they overstay,” Mrs O’Neill said.
“We’ve got the summer holidays coming up. It could be a disaster.”
Mrs O’Neill, 61, has been meeting Council highways officials but said she had been told their “hands were tied” and it could take years to get the restrictions removed because it had to be a legal process.
Ward Councillor John Ruding (Lab, Tong) said he had taken up Mrs O’Neill’s plight and had been told the Council was now trying to seek “a fast-track” way of getting the parking restrictions rescinded or at least changed to a longer waiting time such as two hours. He said: “It’s bureaucracy gone silly to come back with no warning and no consultation and impose these restrictions again for a reason that’s senseless.”
Bradford Council traffic and highways manager Steve Thornton said: “When the education system was reorganised and first school buildings were no longer in use, the majority of traffic signs relating to them were removed.
“However, this sign indicates waiting restrictions and, along with several others across the district, cannot be removed without going through a legal process. We are now looking at ways to speed this up to reduce the impact it has on people and businesses.”
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