08 April 2024 , 15:00
1285
0
An idyllic Cornish village has deployed hundreds of cones to deal with problem parkers.
The bright yellow markers have been used to stop tourists and locals alike parking on its main road as rain has delayed double yellow lines being painted. Popular with holidaymakers and surfers, quaint Polzeath has been overrun with problem parkers causing backlogs and delays.
Villagers online say the problem lies with tourists but local authorities say the problem lies with locals too. In a bid to control traffic jams over the Easter holidays and while waiting for the weather to dry up enough to paint permanent markings, the council and highways agency has turned to traffic cones.
Senior beach ranger Andy Stewart, 54, who lives near Polzeath, said: "There used to be a single yellow line but that was removed so double yellows could be painted. The weather prevented that from happening for quite some time then Easter hit and people were just taking advantage of free parking in a place that affects the flow of traffic.
"At times it can be unsafe so me and the parish council contacted the highways agency - they came out and deployed millions of cones. No one is at fault, the council aren't at fault, the Highways Agency aren't at fault, it's just one of those things - it's just nature doing its thing to make it complicated."
New Year's Day swimmers take chilly early morning dip to welcome 2023
A traffic jam in Polzeath before the cones went down (Saffron Worrall/SWNS)After the Polzeath Beach Ranger Service posted pictures of the cones on Facebook it attracted comments from tourists and locals alike. "It's a huge shame it's come to this. If only people would use the brains they were born with when parking..." said one commenter. "It's been horrendous the past week. No room for buses and emergency services to get through," posted another.
But visitors hit back with one commenting "I'm really not feeling very welcome to visit Polzeath anymore... we are not all idiots or inconsiderate." Andy explained the cones were a temporary solution while the council waited for the weather to dry up enough to paint double yellows down the street. And elaborated that the issue was not tourists vs. locals claiming he'd spotted locals taking advantage of the free parking as well as visitors.
"No one in particular is being targeted, to a certain extent I don't blame people for parking there," said retired police officer Andy. "It's not targeting a specific demographic, it's just solving a problem and that's it. The priority of the beach rangers service and the two parish councils is safety and maintaining the flow of traffic and that's all this was about."
"With any kind of tourism comes a very small number of problems and this was one of them. Issues with residents vs tourists is a Facebook thing everyone assumes it's tourists causing problems but when I came into work I saw locals parking there because its free for the day."
The National Highways Agency has been approached for comment.