Dominic Bareham A HOSPITAL has been accused of being “discourteous” for not responding to a request for information about its parking policy.Councillors slammed the James Paget University Hospital after it emerged nobody responded to Norfolk County Council's request for information about the parking policy in the light of complaints from Gresham Close residents that their street was congested with visitors' and patients' cars.

Dominic Bareham

A HOSPITAL has been accused of being “discourteous” for not responding to a request for information about its parking policy.

Councillors slammed the James Paget University Hospital after it emerged nobody responded to Norfolk County Council's request for information about the parking policy in the light of complaints from Gresham Close residents that their street was congested with visitors' and patients' cars.

Jim Shrimplin was one of the councillors who vented their frustration at a meeting of the county council's Great Yarmouth area committee on Monday.

He said: “It is extremely discourteous of a public body not to formally respond to a request of this nature,” while fellow committee member Colleen Walker said: “The hospital has totally ignored us throughout.”

The parking problems have been a long- running saga in Gresham Close, with residents frequently voicing their concerns that patients, workers and visitors were parking in their quiet cul-de-sac to avoid parking charges at the JPH.

The fed-up residents, many of whom are retired, want action to be taken because the parked cars often prevent them getting out of their driveways and the tense situation has led to drivers jostling for the few available spaces.

Larger vehicles such as delivery vans and dustcarts have also experienced difficulty in passing cars without damaging wing mirrors, and residents fear emergency vehicles would not be able to get through.

The county council has looked at a number of options, including implementing “at any time” waiting restrictions, daytime waiting restrictions between 8am and 6pm and residents' permit parking.

But a decision cannot be made until the views of residents have been sought on the options through a leaflet drop.

In the meantime, the committee will be requesting a formal response from the hospital to the parking situation.

But hospital spokesman Andrea Prime said the James Paget's staff had been asked to use the onsite parking facilities and information had been made available to them on the car parking spaces.

She added the hospital staff would work with the county council to see if there was anything that could be done to ease the problems in Gresham Close and to support options to address the situation such as traffic regulation schemes.

She said: “We are sorry that inappropriate parking in Gresham Close, which may be by users of the James

Paget site, is causing difficulties for residents.”