FOR more than a decade, shipyard employees and residents have battled over Barrow Island's parking spaces. AMY FENTON took to the streets to take a closer look

WITH the shipyard's workforce set to grow to 10,000 and BAE's footprint ever-expanding on Barrow Island, many residents are growing increasingly frustrated at parking problems.

Despite new car parks being built, with others in the pipeline, the ongoing wrangle between residents and shipyard staff for the limited number of spaces continues to be one of the island's major talking points.

To put this into context, we visited six Barrow Island streets on four separate occasions, counting the total number of cars parked in restricted areas and noting which were displaying residents' parking permits.

On one day, midweek and during office hours, 18 cars were parked in one strip in Ship Street – four displayed permits.

In Ramsden Dock Road, eight out of 19 parked cars were displaying permits.

In Trinity Street, along the side of the Co-op in Island Road, not one of 12 cars parked had a permit and in Siemens Street, the same was the case for 11 cars.

Current restrictions limit parking to two hours from 8am to 6pm and to four hours between 6pm and 8am, with no return within two hours.

One female shipyard employee, on condition of anonymity, said she sees colleagues "running out to move their cars after two hours" on a daily basis. Residents have called on Cumbria County Council, which manages on-street parking, to eradicate the loophole.

The shipyard currently has around 3,500 parking places which can be used by employees free of charge. Future plans are to raise that total to 5,000.

But with a current workforce of around 8,400, and a 2014 survey finding that three quarters of BAE employees drove to work alone, there is a variable.

The company hopes to recruit around an additional 2,000 as work on the Dreadnought class submarines gathers pace.

One shipyard employee told the Evening Mail that his daughter, who also works at BAE, leaves her car on one of the new car parks near to B&Q but it is far from ideal.

"In spring and summer, every single day, she has to cover her car with bin bags because of the seagulls," he said.

"She's lost count of the number of times she's been dive-bombed by a nesting gull."

He added that some of his colleagues simply "park in private bays and take the hit of a parking ticket", reasoning that an occasional fixed penalty is worth being able to park close to work.

In the past two years, a total of 1,499 fixed penalty notices were issued to cars on Barrow Island. With motorists having to cough up between £35 and £70 depending on how quickly they pay the fine, this represents a top-end income of more than £100,000.

However, with just three parking wardens tasked with policing streets across the entire Barrow and Ulverston areas, their resources are stretched and many motorists are simply slipping through the net.

"Cumbria County Council recognises that there are some significant parking issues on Barrow Island at the moment," a spokesman said.

"We are actively targeting this area with our civil enforcement officers to try and discourage irresponsible parking."

BAE said it too "recognises the impact on local residents" and regularly reminds staff of the need to park responsibly. Parking issues on Barrow Island are being treated as a priority, the company said.

However, a spokeswoman added: "We are unable to account for their actions when they choose to park off site."

In a statement, the company said: "We are aware of the issues regarding car parking and we're working to address these as a matter of priority.

"In the last three years we've made available more than 1,100 new car parking spaces and we plan to add a further 220 over the next three months. We've also identified an area of site which could provide an extra 900 spaces, subject to approval.

"In addition, we continue to hold positive conversations with the local authorities and public transport providers in an effort to alleviate the issue. Possible initiatives include discounted fares and additional services and we hope to see some of these introduced in the spring. Car sharing and the national cycle to work scheme are two other initiatives we promote to employees.

"We recognise the impact on local residents and regularly remind employees of the need to park responsibly. However, we are unable to account for their actions when they choose to park off site. We also hold regular briefings with residents and we remain committed to keeping the local community informed of our plans."

RESIDENTS on Barrow Island have voiced their parking woes for many years.

Although the problem has been going on for "over a decade", according to one resident, the issue only seems to be getting worse as the shipyard's workforce grows and the ongoing redevelopment brings hundreds of additional contractors into the area.

"When you've lived through these parking issues for over a decade it really grinds your gears," said shipyard worker Dave Armistead, who has lived on Barrow Island for 58 years.

"They are taking Barrow Island for granted. We can't carry on like this; they could do a lot more than they are doing to try and sort it."

Mr Armistead, who lives in Ramsden Dock Road, said from his experience few employees are inspired by BAE's suggestion to car-share.


Dave Armistead "The amount of people who park their cars outside my house, and you never see more than one person getting out," he added.

"One of the reasons it's getting worse is that BAE are employing more contractors from outside of the area. So people are travelling in, and understandably want to park close to work.

"Then you've got all this construction work going on, which is adding to it."

Peter Widnall regularly visits his elderly parents, who also live in Ramsden Dock Road.

Some residents are having to park a distance away from their homes," he said.

"It's a nuisance that people deal with, but they shouldn't have to.

"You can sit in your car and watch people circling round, waiting for someone to leave their spot, and they're in it like a flash.

"I understand they need to park somewhere but it's not right. The shipyard has plenty of land around, they need to do more."

STEPS are being taken to stop Barrow Island being a car "dumping ground" and allow fed up residents to park near their homes.

Barrow Local Committee of Cumbria County Council has agreed to start a consultation on proposals to further restrict parking times on Barrow Island for non residents.

John Murphy, the county councillor for Old Barrow, told his Barrow Local Committee colleagues that the Barrow Island residents are sick of not being able to park their cars, particularly in the evenings when BAE Systems employees park there.


Cllr John Murphy Councillor Murphy said: "Residents are absolutely fed up. It is a dumping ground for cars.

"The situation has got beyond belief.

"With 50 or 60 tickets being issued in a day, they just don't care.

"We really, really have to push BAE Systems now to ensure these people stop parking where the residents can't park any more.

"The frustration now is so high. I have phone calls and emails every day from residents regarding this issue. It's not people being nimby wanting to park outside their place. The simple fact is they haven't anywhere to park.

"The employees need to be pushed to use the proper car park system that BAE have put in place."

The county council agreed to start a three week consultation next month on changing the parking restrictions on Barrow Island.

The proposal is to introduce a two hour parking restriction, with no return within two hours (permit holders exempt) 24 hours a day and seven days a week.

Now there are areas for two hours daytime parking, 8am to 6pm, with no return two hours, and also evening parking from 6pm to 8am for four hours (no return within two hours). All permit holders are exempt.

Residents will be able to apply for two permits.

An initial consultation on this plan among residents indicated majority support. The police also responded in favour of the proposal.

A large number of response included comments about enforcement of restrictions. There were also requests for the removal of some restrictions ion back streets to allow additional parking capacity.

This week Cumbria County Council was updating the yellow lines, parking bay marking and signs.

Residents can report on-street parking issues to the county council's parking services team by emailing parking@cumbria.gov.uk or calling 0300 303 2992.