Residents outraged as council paints in ‘bendy’ parking spaces

Residents of a street in Bath have been left baffled after the council painted in bendy parking spaces.

Locals who live on Denmark Road awoke to find the council had redone the parking spaces on their street and found some surprising changes.

Some of the spaces were now curved and bent around corners, confusing owners.

As a result, this made the spaces unusable for drivers and has left locals outraged at how the council could have done such a bad job.

Locals have also said the new spaces have come as the cost of parking rises and the spaces get smaller.

Speaking to SomersetLive residents said it has left them wondering what the council is there for.

Adam Fouracre said: “It just makes you wonder what we pay our council tax for.”

Mandy Moon added: “I’m worried I’m going to wake up and not be able to get out of my house.”

Alongside the curved parking spaces, the council has also painted H bars across the ends of driveways to stop people from parking there but they have created confusion by doing so.

Ms Moon said she had tried to raise in the issue during the council’s consultation process.

She said: “We have done everything we can to highlight what was a problem at the beginning and it was totally ignored.”

On the curved parking spaces, fellow resident Louise Pool said: “They painted them as if the cars are curved.”

Residents have also been left outraged as the shrinking size of the new spaces makes it harder for residents to accommodate road cars which have also grown in recent years.

Mr Fouracre said: “I was shocked at how narrow it was. If they all park up to the lines we wouldn’t get anything down here.”

Local councillor June Player highlighted the increasing cost of parking in the area and that she finds the parking situation very upsetting.

She said: “What really upsets me about the situation is I have now so many unhappy residents and I find that really quite distressing.”

In response, the council administration has defended the new spaces.

In a statement, the council cabinet member for transport, Manda Rigby said: “We’ve been told by residents who have had parking zones installed, they are improving their streets.

“One of the issues which a zone tries to address is pavement parking, particularly in narrow streets like Denmark Road. When enforcement starts residents in Denmark Road should see less pressure on spaces, however this, along with any other issue will be monitored in a rolling review of all RPZs in the city next year.

“Specifically with Denmark Road we have talked to residents and explained how the markings work.

“The curved bay is only suitable for smaller vehicles but does provide an additional parking space and we would take a common sense approach to enforcement.”