Posted on Friday 27th November 2020
Visitors to the county’s beauty spots and countryside are being reminded to park responsibly and only use official parking.
With the county’s green spaces attracting more visitors as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown and other leisure businesses being closed, many locations are much busier than usual. As a result of this, park rangers are reminding people not to cause any obstruction when parking.
Poor and inconsiderate parking can not only cause problems for emergency vehicles but can lead to inconvenience for other road users and pedestrians, as well as harming wildlife and the countryside.
People should only park in official carparks and parking spaces and should not park on grass verges or block roads. Parking attendants will be in operation at key locations and anyone parking illegally or inappropriately could be given a parking ticket.
Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for highways and transport David Williams said:
“With many shops, leisure facilities and hospitality businesses closed during this second lockdown, people have been turning to our country parks and open spaces for exercise and enjoyment.
“While it’s great that our green spaces remain open and people are still able to visit, we are seeing many more visitors than usual. This means that parking spaces get snapped up really quickly with some people then choosing to park inappropriately causing damage to this fragile environment.
“It’s really important that people only park in the official spaces. It is also vital that emergency vehicles can gain access to these locations at all times and are not obstructed by inconsiderately parked vehicles.”
David added:
“I would also remind visitors to follow local Covid-19 advice and for dog walkers, they should keep their dogs on leads to help observe social distancing rules.”