In addition, according to the trio, the municipality has no established standard for when parking pressure in a street is ‘acceptable’. “So there is no benchmark to determine whether there is a problem or not. The benchmark that Trajan BV maintains states that the parking pressure in Hilversum is below the threshold.”
From these findings, the trio concludes that there is no structural problem with parking pressure, but that there is only too little space in a few streets. The municipality is also said to have misinformed its residents. “The policy is unjustified and has no effect on reducing parking pressure or improving the quality of life.”
The hope is that they can send the controversial parking policy back to the drawing board. “Because as it stands now, the policy is causing unrest and whining.”
‘Back to the drawing board’
But while residents exaggerate their findings, responsible councilor Bart Heller sees nothing in the outcome of their investigation. “It has not yielded any new information,” he responded in the local radio program NH Gooi Saturday. “I understand the gentlemen’s concerns, but we are talking about a decision that the city council made a year and a half ago.”
According to Alderman Heller, the wish to have the policy put back on the table will not be fulfilled. “Everyone is allowed to criticize afterwards, even about a decision made a year and a half ago. But that does not change the decision the city council took then,” he says firmly.
The councilor does admit that there is indeed no baseline measurement underlying the parking policy. “We have seen parking pressure steadily increasing in residential areas for years. This has led to us continually receiving requests from residents for the expansion of paid parking in their streets,” the municipality said in a response. “This always involved a single street or neighborhood and regularly caused a lot of hassle and discussion between residents.”
“In the past, the expansion of paid parking at the request of residents took place per street/single streets, with the result that parking pressure in the surrounding streets increased. As a result, you saw that the nuisance increased. These constant changes also led to a lot of uncertainty among residents and visitors. The Council subsequently decided to introduce paid parking all the way to the ring, instead of a few streets each time. We therefore see no reason to reconsider the council decision.”