Dear Editor,
Your article, Mixed response on hospital parking, I think, misses the real issue of the parking. The issue has been caused by the local hospital trust charging its staff excessively for permits and not always allowing them to gain one even if they pay. The permits themselves do not give the staff a place to park either; there are more permits than allowable places to use them. As a result many staff members are forced to park on the surrounding roads, which they are legally entitled to do so if their vehicle is taxed and insured and of roadworthy condition.
One other key point missed in the report is that the Trust's parking scheme covers the entire trust and not just the Northern General site workers, so you have vehicles of staff from Jessop’s, Hallamshire and Weston Park also parking there and using the free staff bus to travel to their workplaces.
Regarding the scheme itself, it seems to be overwhelmingly rejected and, as the chap who was running the scheme told the Firth Park ward meeting recently, effectively dead in the water as it stands. As regards the full Assembly meeting being held in Parson Cross for the first time, the previous three being in held in Burngreave (twice) and Firth Park (once), in the interests of moving it around, seems fair. I'm not sure what exactly you were driving at with the last barbed comment. Perhaps you felt the meeting should be held in the Burngreave ward again?
For what it was worth, I'm glad the scheme's been rejected as it stood. Creating the restriction zones would have just moved the problem to surrounding estates and not tackled the root problem. The hospital trust’s inability to provide suitable parking for their staff despite excessive profits on parking made by the trust year on year.
Mick Ibbotson, Longley Resident