Southend elderly residents fears as parking permits revoked

Station Road residents, including those living in the Pavilion Heights retirement flats, have benefited from parking permits and guest passes for more than ten years. 

However, they have now been told their permits will not be renewed and were issued “in error” by Southend Council. 

In addition to parking permits, residents have also been informed that day permits for visitors will also no longer be available.

A small number of residents on Station Road have been told their parking permits will continue by Southend Council, however this does not apply to those living in Pavilion Heights.  

Della Cooper, 86 and Linda Bird, 71, are both concerned about how their needs can be met without visitor permits (Image: George Pizani) Della Cooper is one of the residents at Pavilion Heights and is dependent upon the care of visiting family.

“None of my family live in this area and when they come to visit they’ll have nowhere to park now,” she said.

The 86-year-old, who has lived in Southend for more than 20 years, added: “I’m disabled, my family have to be able to visit me; if they can’t, I may just as well lay down and die. It’s as serious as that. It’s disgusting.”

“The response from the council has been disgusting” - Jessica Fairy, 79 (Image: George Pizani) According to residents of Pavilion Heights, the council have recommended that permit holders and visitors park at one of Westcliff’s public car parks. With parking starting at £3 an hour, many see this as too great an expense.

“Although we have a garage underneath, there’s 19 parking spaces and 32 residents. When we’ve asked the council where the other residents are supposed to park, they’ve told us to use public parking,” said 71-year-old resident Linda Bird. 

“How can we afford a minimum of £12 a day when we’re on a pension?”

Around a dozen Pavilion Heights residents expressed their deep concerns around parking permits on Tuesday, with others raising the issue of visiting nurses and health care professionals.

The residents are in agreement in the criticism of the council’s handling of the issue, claiming they have received little communication and no compensation.

“Their response has been disgusting” said 79-year-old Jessica Fairy.

The council previously confirmed to the Echo that parking permits in Station Road would not be renewed when they next expire after being issued in error. 

Daniel Cowan, leader of the council, said: "We already had a planned parking permit review, to improve the efficacy of our parking zones for the benefit of residents. This review is unrelated to the recent issue identified in Station Road, which emerged during our upgrade to the MySouthend customer portal. 

“We recognise the parking pressures in the area and expect that the review will be complete for this zone before the expiration of the permits that were issued in error but which we are honouring. Residents of Station Road who are entitled to permits will not be impacted by this, as noted on our website.”