A CRACKDOWN on commuters who dump their cars in Lower Caversham and walk to the railway station was declared by the borough’s transport leaders last week.

Members of the traffic management sub-committee launched a consultation into a residents’ parking permit scheme at their meeting last Thursday.

Neighbours in Patrick Road appealed for committee’s help in January because they say motorists regularly park in their street and catch trains to work or go shopping in the town centre.

Speaking at a meeting, resident John Wells said because the street is the nearest to the station with no waiting restrictions finding a car parking space is becoming an “intolerable inconvenience” for neighbours.

He added: “The everyday reality of the road not only being used by commuters but other residents using Patrick Road as a long-term car park has a dramatic impact on mine and my neighbours’ quality of life. It is grossly unfair.”

An informal consultation of the 22 houses at the northern end of Patrick Road found that 13 of the 19 respondents were in favour of a residents parking scheme, but were split 50-50 between a shared use from 9am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday or a residents-only scheme. Only 22 houses were consulted because the southern section of the road has off-street parking.

When asked which option residents would prefer, Mr Wells said he thought the shared-use proposal was better because it meant businesses could still receive deliveries during the day and residents could have visitors.

He said: “Without the value of hindsight it is very hard to say which of the two options would have the best effect. What can be agreed is if something were to be done it would be better than nothing being done.”

The sub-committee approved plans for the shared-use proposal to go out for statutory consultation.

Caversham councillor Richard Davies said: “This is really good news that we finally have a consensus.

“I would advise going out for consultation on shared use. I acknowledge it’s a very complex issue but let’s get on with this.”