University students hit back in St Paul's parking egg wars

“SInce they introduced resident parking permits in St Lukes, along with meters for non-residents, and allowing permit holders to park in all and any spaces, I've always found a place to park my van.
Before the permits were introduced it was a struggle.
I prefer to pay the £70 ish per year for a permit and pretty much guarantee a space near my house than the old system...
Even in metered spaces, I can park my van and they're more often empty than not during the day and mostly only used by permit holders in the evening... can't imagine Students wanting a yearly permit at around £70 instead of campus one at £45...?”

“Quote "I have lived in Cheltenham all my life and so I know the area well"

TIG reported on this street many times, headline for example.."Manser Street is the worst in Cheltenham" another "Manser Street worse than the Bronx"

TBH no one would park a car for 2 seconds on that road .

She may know the area well but for sure does not know where to park her car.”

“Message received @Dave12345!”

“I would not encourage Andrew Landsley or anyone else to pin their hopes on a parking review. This happened in the Suffolks area of Cheltenham, and has made parking and traffic there much more difficult - this took place despite the majority not being in favour of the proposals. Lessons learnt need to include a full consultation, proper neighbourhood participation, and the politicians to listen!”

“I'd just like to add that in this thread @Matt1006, @eyeopener, @chrisgump2011, @whiteangeluk and @localyoungman have made some of the most articulate and informed arguments I've ever seen on the TiG board! I find it genuinely encouraging for our area that people care so much, are constructive and willing to volunteer their opinions on a public forum.

I would also like to offer you a personal guarantee that I will bring your comments directly to the attention of Stephen Marston (vice-chancellor of UoG) when I meet with him tomorrow afternoon to discuss the University's responsibility within our community. I will also be presenting the common sense solutions that have come to me via some of you on this board, personal email or at recent residents meetings.

Speaking as a resident, the car parking review cannot come quick enough to our area - along with the St Paul's-wide waste management review. Hopefully we can keep working together to make sure these issues remain at the forefront of trying to improve our community.

Andrew”

“It has always been a problem in St Paul's, when I come home during term time I can never find a space for my car and end up having to park streets away from my house; when these students have left I can park right outside my front door!

As it has been said already, there are too many student houses each holding 3 or 4 of them and most of them having a car! We, the real residents of St Paul's who are here for more than a few months of the year need to have our own private/reserved parking spaces by our homes.

With regards to this actual incident, Manser Street has always been a notorious area and I would never park my car down there. The university does need to start providing parking for the students when they drive here for their lectures, however the ones that 'live' here, you need to be fair and realise you cannot have more than two cars per house, there simply isn't enough room!”

“Of course, the person or people responsible for this damage have not yet been identified, so apart from TIG's conjecture, the fact that the car was damaged in Manser Street and the well-publicised enmity between St Paul's residents and students, there is nothing to suggest that this damage was caused by local residents. My own vehicle has been similarly targeted while parked in a public pay-and-display car park! The police don't respond, so I don't bother reporting it any more (my car is now kept in a locked garage most of the time). It's just one of the risks of car ownership.
This incident just happened to happen in Manser Street and it just happened to be a student's car. In other circumstances, this kind of damage probably wouldn't have been given such prominent press.”

“Hello all!

Again, very pleased that the issues we face as residents are making the news - open discussion and an honest appreciation of the challenges we face here will be the best way for us to move forward as a community. No one is under the illusion that there isn't still a lot of work to be done and would like to reassure residents that there are many residents, organisations and officers working extremely hard on behalf of St Paul's.

I'd not commented on the remarks made on the previous TiG article as I felt that it would be unfair to school those who are entirely unable to differentiate between my words and a journalist generate headline.

To highlight this ignorance, I'll just directly quote serial-offerender @takeway22 for the entirety of their last post:

"Councillor Andrew Lansley has been strangely quiet when TiG posted the last two articles. Afterall, in Mr Lansley's words, "COOL' St Paul's is fast becoming the best place in Cheltenham". Really?"

Well done for quoting a headline, certainly not my words and this was underlined in my first post about the story on that particular thread:

***
"Just to clarify some misleading quotes the mar the tone of this piece:

1. I did not claim it's the "best place in Cheltenham"
2. I did not claim the ward is "the place to be"
***

Just to give you a clue, when I say stuff to a paper "they normally put it in quotation marks." If they don't, then it is simple journalistic spin - you would do well to note this in order to stop you continually repeating this error. Something tells me that your motivation on this thread would be to make glib, populist remarks rather than actually helping your fellow human beings like some of us have spent their lives doing.

If you can't tell the difference between someone highlighting the positive things about an area and crime then it is only you who looks stupid for their remarks. I fully stand by what I said in the article (and my blog) about the positives of our area - here is that link AGAIN so you can see what I actually said:

http://tinyurl.com/czt2zj3

I would welcome anyones comments and/or assistance (including takeaway22) in helping our community to improve rather than wasting their time taking anonymous pot shots on this forum.

Alternatively the next residents association meeting will be held in the Herrington Rooms in St Paul's Church on November 15th at 6.30pm and would be happy to see you there.

Regards,

Andrew”

“The problem is there are too many homes rented out in St Pauls so a 3 bedroom home has been turned into a 5/6 bedroom house, I think in Courtney street houses have been extended to 8/9 bedrooms. Than we wonder why is there no spaces for cars. Most whom rent the rooms have cars. Gone are the days when they have bikes.

When St Pauls was first built it was for local workers in the area, even to 30 years ago it was mostly family homes, when the collage became a University that's when people saw their opportunity to buy homes for the purpose of letting them out, not to families as there was more to be made from students as rent out nearly every room. Back in the 1800s there was never the thought that so many could live in the area. Otherwise I am sure they would have made the roads more wider.

Yet the council seem to turn a blind eye to the problem.

The university could help if they choose to open up car parks allow students to use both gates when they have been drinking at the student club at Francis close.
It's not just the parking that upsets people the noise and shouting, is there any need for it ? We have it on their way out approx 11pm than again on their way back at 3 to 4 am

I don't condone any criminal damage to anyone or anything, but I do think that students and not all of them, as some are quite respectful of the area, but a few should learn to respect others in neighbourhood before they want others to respect them.”

“@Chrisgump2011 thank you. The university provides a free bus linking campuses in Cheltenham and Gloucester and various other points in the town. Students other than those who live locally, but outside the town, or part time students with jobs simply do not need cars.

On the one hand we have the council taking measures to pedestrianise, create shared spaces, rejuvanate town centre car parks and reroute our roads to encourage fewer cars, more cycling and walking only to see this green and healthy trend undone by a university unwilling to tackle the obvious.”