CONFUSED councillors are scratching their heads as hospital patients and staff are still suffering long queues while perfectly good car parks stand empty close by.
Cllr Andrew Cross, supported by other Green Party councillors, has now set up an online petition calling for an urgent solution to the gridlock at Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester to end once and for all the suffering of patients, visitors and staff.
Launched on action network, the thrust of the petition is to open County Hall for hospital parking as soon as possible.
But the county council said the car parks are still in use.
The suggestion comes after a delay to the park-and-ride scheme at Sixways for hospital staff which had been planned to reduce congestion around the hospital site.
Meanwhile, a multi-storey car park will take months to build and so offers no quick fix to the problem which adds stress to patients at times when they may already be suffering from ill-health.
A park and ride scheme for Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester based at Sixways was due to launch in the early autumn, easing pressure on roads like Newtown Road and the A4440.
However, it has yet to go live. Meanwhile, County Hall has been closed since June 21 and the car parks stand virtually empty and underused.
The closure occurred when the legionella bacterium was found in the water supply, compounded by the existence of dangerous concrete.
The presence of RAAC means parts of County Hall have been off-limits since September last year.
Cllr Cross is supported by Katie Collier who has seen first-hand the impact of the parking and traffic issues at the hospital when her dad was a patient for months following complications with a hip replacement.
“My mother suffered an incredible amount of stress. It was an added amount of stress and anguish for my mum,” said the city councillor for Leopard Hill.
Cllr Cross, a county councillor for Warndon Parish and city councillor for Leopard Hill, said: “Traffic congestion at our hospital’s site has been dire for far too long and the county council has done little to help.
“For over a year now, staff, patients and visitors get delayed for hours nearly every day in the hospital car parks – yet the massive car parks at County Hall are almost totally vacant because the building is unusable.
“We demand immediate action.”
“Worcestershire County Council’s empty car parks at County Hall are just a few minutes’ traffic-free walk away from the hospital. Allowing these car parks to be used for overspill hospital parking could reduce congestion on the hospital site immediately, while the longer-term solutions are put in place.”
Those who sign the petition, sponsored by Worcester Green Party, are calling for ‘car parks at County Hall to be opened up immediately for use by hospital staff, patients and visitors’.
The petition also calls for Worcestershire County Council to permit a Beryl Bike bay to be installed near County Hall and the ‘immediate implementation of a park and ride system at Sixways to serve the hospital’.
A spokesperson for Worcestershire County Council said: “While the main County Hall offices are not in use, the car park is still needed to accommodate staff and visitors to the wider County Hall campus including Wildwood.
“The County Hall car park has also been used to accommodate specialist contractor vehicles and equipment for ongoing investigative works.”
To sign our petition, please click on the button below: