Torbay Council asked 'did you run out of paint' for yellow lines?

Councillors say new restrictions don't go far enough

Torbay Council has been asked if it ran out of yellow paint before finishing the job of making Paignton road junctions safer.

People living near the junctions have mounted a long campaign for a better deterrent to nuisance parking which has led to numerous near misses.

Drivers parking close to the junctions where Lammas Lane meets Maidenway Road and where Maidenway Lane meets Marldon Road have created dangerous blind spots. Residents say there have been similar problems at junctions off Marldon Road.

After months of lobbying, the council finally painted new double yellow lines. But they stop abruptly, well short of where residents say the trouble begins.

Now two local councillors have taken up the fight again on their behalf.

“Did you run out of paint?” asked Cllr Cat Johns (Lib Dem, Clifton with Maidenway). “The lines are barely the length of a vehicle.

“The reason they were required was to stop vehicles parking on corners of roads on busy junctions as it caused blind spots for oncoming traffic and pedestrians. The lines are down, but they are far too short which defeats the purpose of having them!”

Along with Cllr Maggi Douglas Dunbar (Lib Dem, Clifton with Maidenway), Cllr Johns also spoke to people living near the junction of Barnfield Road and Marldon Road, where a motorcyclist was recently involved in an incident with a driver whose view of oncoming traffic was blocked by a careless parker.

“The measurements don’t make sense,” said Cllr Johns. “The double yellow lines are only 355 centimetres long and an average car length is 457.”

In a letter to the council’s cabinet member for parking, Cllr Adam Billings, she added: “Please can you deliver the lines to a length that will make a difference and stop the possibility of a serious accident.”

Cllr Billings (Con, Churston with Galmpton) told a recent council meeting that the parking restrictions had been subject to three consultation exercises which had involved ‘considerable council resources’.

He pointed out that there had been no recorded crashes at the Marldon Road junctions.