Unwanted double yellow lines affecting business for village post office

Double yellow lines were painted on Silver Street around Bardney’s post office, and the village’s Bardney Group Parish Council (BGPC) appealed to Lincolnshire County Council’s Highways department to remove them.

The problem, the parish councillors said, is that people were now unable to park near the post office and, as a consequence, business in the post office is now suffering.

Parish clerk Anna Lawson said: “These lines make no sense at all, the post office is such a good village amenity and they’ve been great.

"It beggars belief and the post office will suffer because of this, LCC have completely ignored residents wishes.”

Postmasters Hira and Ram Odedra at Bardney post office said that the unwanted double yellow lines were starting to have a bad impact on their business as their customers struggle to park anywhere near the post office:

"We’ve had lots of trouble because of this,” Hira said, “It’s definitely going to affect us in the long term, people in the village can’t just park up and pop in now which is bad for our disabled and elderly customers, especially in a small village like this.

"It’s been really badly prepared and we don’t understand why they have been put there we can’t see why they are there and it’s stopping customers from being able to pop in quickly.”

The proposal was discussed at a July 2021 Planning and Regulation Committee meeting and was subsequently approved, despite objection from the parish council and a number of residents, with the lines applied in November 2021.

BGPC requested that the lines are removed by the deadline of Tuesday February 14, 2023, as there is “no legal justification” for the double yellow lines on Silver Street, and that if this did not happen, the council would consider taking it to a Judicial Review.

A Lincolnshire County Council spokesman said: “The double yellow lines are in place that our officers observed to be a pinch-point on the road. The lines were put in to avoid collisions between vehicles trying to pass and those parked outside the Post Office.

“However, with all issues such as this, nothing is ever set in stone and if the local council has further ideas about changes to be made here or elsewhere in the area then we would be very happy to hear those views.

“The very best way to do that is to make an approach to the council with suggestions via the local councillor. Once this happens, we can then start a process of assessment and scrutiny into what is brought up.”