Council to curb airport parking problem in village

A local authority has said it will take steps to prevent holidaymakers parking in a village close to a busy airport.

Essex County Council has promised to resolve traffic problems on Parsonage Road in Takeley, near Stansted Airport, which it describes as "alarming".

The village's parish council, which has been appealing for a resolution for the past two years, wants red lines painted on the road to prevent cars from stopping or parking.

The county council said it was working to introduce a scheme that "best meets the needs of all road users".

The parish council said up to 15 cars were regularly parked nose to tail on the approach to a roundabout and a bridge over the A120.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, this reduced the width of the road, making it single-track and causing vehicles to face oncoming traffic as they pass the obstruction.

Stansted Airport has agreed to pay for the £22,000 cost of the county council's red lines scheme.

However, the county council said it would need to create official bus stops for the road before any parking prevention measures were created.

Currently unofficial stops were being used and there were issues with some of the locations, with a further review required, it added.

The road also serves as an established HGV route to quarries in Elsenham.

Mark Platt, cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and sustainable transport, said he had visited the area and had witnessed HGVs "tailgating".

He had asked council officers "to expedite the situation, which I find quite alarming".

Takeley parish councillor and local resident, Jackie Cheetham, said they had been promised a resolution by January and the matter now needed to be "addressed urgently".

She added: "Since the [January] deadline passed, resident anxiety has increased and the parish council has no answers to the daily questions from the public."

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