Liverpool council to ‘tweak’ controversial Bramley-Moore Dock parking scheme

Last week 10,000 fans became the first people to set foot in the £500m 52,888-seater stadium as the club held the first of three trial games at its new home.

The under-18s fixture was held amid vocal backlash against an experimental parking scheme around Regent Road and the surrounding streets as well as the installation of a fan management system at Sandhills station. Following the implementation of an experimental traffic regulation order which places a number of restrictions on parking, Cllr Liam Robinson, leader of the city council, said the authority would look at making “practical tweaks” to the scheme.

Addressing the first test event during a Liverpool Council cabinet meeting, Cllr Robinson described it as an “important milestone.” He added: “It was useful as an event to test out some of the things around the stadium and in the wider area and how those worked.

“Myself and Cllr Dan Barrington continue to work closely with the combined authority on public transport provision but equally how we’ve instructed officers to work very closely with those businesses and residents who raised very valid concerns about the experimental traffic regulation order and how we can put in place some tweaks to that scheme to improve that for those businesses and residents in the short term accordingly.”

The city leader expanded on the changes the authority could make as he took part in a phone-in on BBC Radio Merseyside. Explaining why the council had adopted a temporary parking order, he said: “We can tweak it, alter it, change it as is needed a bit quicker than if we’d done it permanently.”

Cllr Robinson said officials wanted to make “practical tweaks” as quickly as possible, confirming they would look again at increasing permits given to businesses on a case by case basis after many said 10 would not be enough. The Labour group leader added how waiting times in parking bays further away from the stadium could be extended to two hours.

Pay and display machines could also be installed. He said: “We’re not just in listening mode, we’re in talking mode with people who have given us lots of detailed feedback.

“We’ve got to look at it in the round, particularly with a new stadium, we can’t have a parking free for all but we also know within parts of the zone there are other issues.” The city boss said the council could not “pick and mix” what restrictions it put in place to manage parking around Liverpool and addressed why the scheme would run all year round, rather than solely on match days.

He said: “There’s a number of different issues we’re trying to pick up here, the fact we’ve got a lot of commuter parking at the southern end of the zone, which let’s be honest those people should either be parking in a car park in the city centre and paying for it or coming by public transport, they shouldn’t be parking on residential streets.” Cllr Robinson said one of the lessons that had been learned was some of the road closures on the night “frankly didn’t happen quickly enough and that did lead to other traffic problems.”

He added how he understood people’s frustration and would meet with fans groups alongside Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram later this week. Cllr Robinson also took calls from impacted businesses and residents.

Brittany Kefira runs Noctua Jewellery which is situated within the parking zone. She called in and said: “I appreciate the council is now talking about pay and display options and looking at increasing the number of business permits but right now, businesses are still suffering and we’re still waiting for answers and timelines.

“Words and ideas and promises aren’t enough, we need actual implementation and we need it fast.” Paul Blair, from Blackstock Market, who has campaigned intensely on behalf of a number of businesses since the order was implemented, also spoke to the council leader.

He said: “We actually had our best ever week the week before the restrictions came into play, since then we’re 47% down on sales week on week, in particular the most affected event was the community fun days we put on every Saturday and Sunday which were down 60%. The main reason for that is 80% of the people coming are driving.

“On those particular days Blackstock Street will be completely empty apart from people coming to our events and that will be a large part of the season. Our Saturday night shows will be when there’s no Everton Football Club events and we’ve already seen a huge decline in sales.”

Cllr Robinson said: “I’m sorry if there’s been that kind of impact genuinely, I think that’s why we want to work with you to make the tweaks there could be.” He added how there could end up being “compromises” on both sides to reach an agreement.

Pressed on the rail pressures that fans had raised at Sandhills, Cllr Robinson said: “I think inevitably there’s some improvements we’ve got to make, particularly around some of the signage so people know where they’re queuing for which train so we can process people much better. Obviously there’s the new foot bridge that will be put in place and is being put in place as part of getting people on and off the station better.

“There’s also the elements around the trains going forward on matchdays should be eight carriage services, those are still being worked through with some of the technical arrangements for the Ormskirk line so we’ve got the ability to shift more people.”