Matchday Parking Zone in and around BS3

[Silvio Dante]

1 hour ago, italian dave said:

How long did it take you to get away afterwards SD? We parked on a nearby street and it was without doubt the worst ground for getting away from this season. We moved 50 metres in half an hour then just turned round and drove 10 miles in the wrong direction before switching the sat nav back on! 

It was worse getting there as my satnav took me down single tracks!

Got out of Vitality at half five and plain sailing after. Took me through Salisbury and home about twenty past seven - 20 minutes to get out of the Vitality car park, but worth it for the convenience and cost 

[GrahamC]

1 hour ago, italian dave said:

I guess there’s no perfect solution! I remember Avon, but not really well enough to know whether that judgement is fair. I know Mrs Thatcher hated it because it elected Labour administrations that covered otherwise true blue parliamentary constituencies. 

WECA doesn’t really work. Not just the N Somerset issue, although that’s a big problem, but also - I think - a more fundamental one which is that it still plays second fiddle to Bristol, Banes etc.

The regional authority that’s arguably most successful is Greater Manchester. They are very clear that when members - elected or otherwise - meet they are acting for Greater Manchester, not for Rochdale, Wythenshawe or whatever. And they have far more buy in to this from their members than many others manage. Too often people at WECA see their role as representing Banes, Bristol, Yate, whatever at WECA.

Its always easier to focus on the micro - 200 residents around Ashton Gate can organise a far more effective campaign that 20,000 people from across the region who’ll be affected by the same issue. 

Tough one, I don’t really know what the answer is! 

Fair- other issue with WECA is the other (non Bristol) authorities are obsessed with it not being “Greater Bristol” so that, along with the obvious political disparity causes friction.

Greater Manchester clearly doesn’t have to worry about the politics (pretty much all Labour) but seems to have overcome the other issue with ease.

[italian dave]

5 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Fair- other issue with WECA is the other (non Bristol) authorities are obsessed with it not being “Greater Bristol” so that, along with the obvious political disparity causes friction.

Greater Manchester clearly doesn’t have to worry about the politics (pretty much all Labour) but seems to have overcome the other issue with ease.

Yes, that's true about GM. 

You're right about it being seen as Bristol-centric. What's funny though is that most of N Somerset sees it as Weston-centric and most of B&NES sees it as Bath-centric. And I bet if you divided N Somerset in two, people in Portishead would still see it as Clevedon-centric....and so on!!

[Corsham Ed]

Matchday parking over the past few years has become more difficult, since the redesign of the stadium, I opted to pay for Parking at Ashton Park School, In 2017 I paid £160 and this last season, the club was going to charge £225, but due to the pandemic, the cost this season was £185. I dread to think what the club will charge next season.

I'm 100% sure this puts a lot of people of attending games as the parking around and near the season is like finding a needle in a haystack.

[Sleepy1968]

5 hours ago, Sir Geoff said:

How is parking legally near a football stadium for hours being an asshole ? Imo anyone parking illegally for even 5 minutes should be ticketed..my point being what are the council doing in other areas of the city where there is even more 'illegal' disruption and on a daily basis. 

Sorry if I misunderstood. the point I'm not concerned with legal parkers - on a match day of any other time.

[real_bristol]

6 hours ago, Sir Geoff said:

Never understood why anyone that buys a house near a major sporting venue is surprised that a large number of cars appear on event / match days. Surely if you buy a house in that vacinity then you surely accept a degree of disruption. No different than living next to a school and constantly having your driveway blocked or cars parking on pavements as close to the school gates as possible. Parking issues have been raised in and around Ashton Gate since the First division days when restrictions first started appearing.

Nimbyism at its finest mate. People move next to schools then start bellyaching about the traffic at pick-up time as well.
 

If I lived near the ground I’d be renting out my driveway every match day, I believe there are apps for this sort of thing. 

[Redandproud]

5 hours ago, italian dave said:

How long did it take you to get away afterwards SD? We parked on a nearby street and it was without doubt the worst ground for getting away from this season. We moved 50 metres in half an hour then just turned round and drove 10 miles in the wrong direction before switching the sat nav back on! 

I got away quite easy, turned left out the car park, through housing estate, straight onto A31 ,  home by 7.30 and stopped in services, I always use Google maps, 

[italian dave]

1 hour ago, Red-Al said:

I got away quite easy, turned left out the car park, through housing estate, straight onto A31 ,  home by 7.30 and stopped in services, I always use Google maps, 

I obviously ended up in the wrong place! We were on a main road just to the north of the ground, and as I say just not moving.

I’ve invested a modest £12 for a years subscription to TomTom Go - I’ve found it really good this season. 

[Redandproud]

1 hour ago, italian dave said:

I obviously ended up in the wrong place! We were on a main road just to the north of the ground, and as I say just not moving.

I’ve invested a modest £12 for a years subscription to TomTom Go - I’ve found it really good this season. 

Google maps are so accurate, avoids all traffic hold ups,