Club members feeling blue over car parking

BLUE Club secretary Rosemary Stewart (front) and committee members and customers in the car park in front of the popular venue

‘Do they really want us to close?’

THE Blue Club in Chadderton fears it may lose vital custom if three-hour restrictions remain on a near-by car park.

The new measures — in force between 8am and 6pm daily — were brought in on Monday to help attract more visitors to district centres by preventing motorists hogging parking spaces all day.

But after a barrage of complaints, Oldham Council has agreed to listen to people’s views over the new restrictions and have instructed parking wardens not to issue tickets to motorists who go over the time limit until Monday, March 7.

The situation has infuriated secretary of the North Chadderton Conservative Club, known as the Blue Club, Rosemary Stewart.

The Victoria Street car park, which is opposite the club and is frequently used by members and social groups, including chess, darts and bowling teams, has been slapped with a three-hour parking restriction with no return for four hours.

Mrs Stewart said: “The work I do here is voluntary, sometimes I am up there three or four times a day and we also have funeral wakes here where people will stay for more than three hours. Our bar staff work four or five hour shifts.

“Are they really wanting another local club to close? We are very fortunate here because despite the smoking ban we are doing really well so we don’t want to suffer because of the knock on effects of the car park.”

Mrs Stewart, who has been a member for 22 years, said she had never seen maintenance done on the car park and believes the council should bring in revenue for that by introducing a minimum price of £3 for an overnight stay.

Oldham Council will continue to monitor the introduction of the parking restrictions following feedback from residents.

Councillor John McCann said: “Free, short-term parking was only introduced on Monday but I can honestly say it is receiving popular support from people. Parking attendants have spoken to motorists and the feedback has been positive. Residents are happy they can now findspaces so they can use local shops. This can only support local businesses.

“However, we will continue to monitor the situation across the borough and listen to people’s views.”

For more information contact Oldham Council’s parking services on 0161 770 3389.