Residents demand action over Farnham town centre parking space squeeze

Farnham residents say they are being forced to park far from their homes because there are not enough permit spaces for people living in the town centre.

They are calling for changes to parking across Zones A and B, including more resident-only spaces and longer permit-only hours.

A new town-wide petition has been launched by community group Farnham Voice amid concerns about the impact of the Farnham Infrastructure Programme (FIP) and changes to the number of permits available to households.

Resident David Foster said: “There are fewer residents' parking places than there are cars, so we end up parking on other streets, which limits spaces for neighbours.

“Farnham has excellent car parking facilities and it makes sense for visitors to Farnham to use the car parks, freeing up some parking spaces for residents.”

The petition calls for longer permit-only parking hours, including 24-hour operation where appropriate, and the conversion of suitable shared pay-and-display bays into permit-only spaces.

It also asks for consideration to be given to allowing permit holders to use designated council car parks when on-street spaces are full, as well as clearer signage and a review of enforcement and overall parking capacity.

Sam Goddard said: “The parking situation in the centre of town has been an area of concern for residents for many years. In 2022 a formal petition was put forward to Surrey County Council who took no meaningful action.

“It would be good to see Surrey take after other councils with densely populated towns and apply more resident parking only sections to help alleviate the stress residents face on a daily basis.”

The latest petition by Farnham Voice follows a 2022 submission calling for changes to parking in the Castle Street area. The proposals passed the initial stage of the parking review process, but further consideration was deferred while consultation and work on the FIP took place.

Guy Knight said: “Having campaigned in the past on the subject of parking in Castle Street, it is disappointing that everything was deferred to a post-FIP time, especially when so many spaces were then removed from Castle Street. Something needs to be done which takes into account the practical concerns of residents town-wide.”

Alongside the Farnham Voice the Castle Street Residents Association also want more to be done about parking,

Professor Roni Brown, co-chair of the Castle Street Residents association said the FIP would remove 17 parking bays from Castle Street while new limits had also been placed on the number of permits available per household.

She said: “The FIP removes 17 parking bays on Castle Street. These were parking bays used jointly by residents with Zone A permits and visitors to the town.

“The FIP consultation on parking did not uphold the objections that were expressed by residents but did commit to a parking review to assess impact.

“In addition, the Council has introduced new limits on the availability of permits per household. So we have two issues to explore with Castle Street residents: the impact of the one permit per household limit and how the reduction of parking bays will further impact our lives.

“We are hoping to identify workable collaborative solutions to present to Councillors later this year.”

The petition found on the Farnham Voice website is calling for the measures to be investigated when parking arrangements are next considered following completion of the FIP works.

For more details head to https://farnhamvoice.uk/