Montpelier rises up in fight against RPZ

Rebellion is in the air. And it smells like chicken. Jerk chicken, that is.

Residents of East Grove in Montpelier have become the second group in the city to barricade their street, stopping the council from installing the dreaded residents’ parking zones (RPZ).

So they are celebrating with lunch and a spot of tea – in the middle of their road.

“Us residents say ‘we don’t want it here, thank you very much, George’,” says Judith Davis, 42, who, as of this morning, calls herself a “community activist”.

“This is not a rich place, and we won’t have these lot extorting money from us,” she adds, gesturing at the freshly painted parking bays in the street across the road.

As the chicken circulates, cars pass by beeping their horns in solidarity – triggering cheers in the camp every time.

East Grove, a cul-de-sac off Brook Road, is now an island of free parking in the newest RPZ currently blanketing Montpelier. The scheme is yet to go live, but residents have been manning the entrance to their road for two days now to keep council contractors out.

Their objections mirror the anger Ferguson has caused with his blanket introduction of the zones across the city – he himself admitting he has “kicked a hornet’s nest”.

Since unveiling his plans and repeating that he will carry them out as a “strategic move to reduce congestion”, regardless of what public consultations say, he has been called a dictator, autocrat and egotist.

They are labels he has always denied, saying he is listening to the people and making changes to schemes as they go along.

Thousands have signed numerous petitions forcing the mayor to think again and protests have included tanks driving through Clifton and parking meters being vandalised. But George has stood firm, for the good of the city, he says.

The real sticking point for most people is the £24-£72 cost of the permits which residents need to park on their own streets to avoid paying a daily charge to the meters.

“This is all about making money,” Alan Duncan, 64, a carer, says, sitting down at the circle of chicken on East Grove. “We ain’t got no problem with parking. Some people, they might snatch a little space now and again to walk to town, but we got space here.”

Jose Barco, 32, a community worker from Easton who has arrived in solidarity, says people across the city have “lost faith in consultations” since the council introduce the zones whether people want them or not.

“You are basically being consulted on how much you agree on it. That’s why it’s a waste of time and that’s why we are here, on the street, instead,” he says, plate of chicken on lap.

Keen followers of Bristol news will be getting a thick sense of Déjà vu right about now. That’s because this protest follows a similar uprising in Morgan Street, St Paul’s, the previous area to get the RPZ treatment.

A very well-publicised barricade there led to a surprise announcement from the mayor that the road would be excluded from the new meters and bays – leaving residents there exposed to the scourge of commuter parking.

But that was last October. So how are things getting along?

Well, most notably, since they became the only street in the area with free parking, residents on the street have started a mini campaign against commuters.

“We’ve been leaving messages on their cars saying ‘this is for residents only and we don’t have any room for commuters’,” says Tahir Mahood, 45, a taxi driver who has lived on the street for the last 13 years.

“And they have got the message it seems,” he adds, pointing to the free parking spaces on the street. “We needed to do something, or people abused it.”

Bil (Bilinda) Goldsworthy, 51, who lives around the corner from Morgan street, isn’t quite so smug. “They’ve shot themselves in the foot,” she insists. “They got away with it and now look what they are doing, having to put notes about.”

She insists she is happy the new RPZ on her street, saying people can park outside their homes for the first time instead of battle with daytime commuters for a space.

“It’s the cheek of it,” she says of the Morgan street protest. “And they’ve set a precedent now – everyone thinks they can do it.”

On East Grove, the residents are itching to start their own “community enforcement” like on Morgan Street. “Everybody knows who lives on this street so it’s easily solved between us,” says Abi Watson, 39, a grandmother visiting her mother on the street.

But her dreams could be quashed, as the council – on this occasion – are keen to avoid another Morgan Street.

In a statement on Thursday afternoon, a spokeswoman told Bristol24/7: “There has been extensive dialogue with residents and businesses in Montpelier for more than a year to enable them to shape the residents parking scheme and we have made significant changes as a result of their feedback.

“Our job now is to ensure the scheme is implemented effectively in Montpelier in the interests of all those living and working there, so contractors will be returning to East Grove to complete the job.”

Better put more chicken on.