All entries for Wednesday 12 October 2005

More ways to demoralise Westwood staff

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My email response to the plan to make car park 13 no longer free. Call it an open letter.

Hi, I'm writing in response to your request for feedback on the 'Green Travel Plan'.

Your plan includes making car park 13 pay-on-foot, which I guess would be a reduction of about 90% of the free parking on Westwood campus. You assert that CP13 being free causes problems, but given that it remains almost empty in the undergraduate vacations, I would suggest that it is allowing students to use it for free which causes problems.

Many staff at Westwood require somewhere to park (just as we require somewhere to buy our lunch). I approve of the green travel plan encouraging the use of buses and bicycles but I live in North Warwickshire, so neither of these is a realistic option for me. Can I suggest that, better than heavy-handed blanket measures such as these, a sensible Green Travel Plan would take circumstances into account. Most students live within a few miles of campus so why not eliminate free parking for them, while issuing free parking permits to staff? Or you could consider issuing free permits to staff who live in postcodes not adjacent to the University – this would be fair without being a huge administrative burden.

I'm personally not prepared to pay for car parking; and given that public street parking is plentiful very close to Westwood campus, I know I'm not the only one of my colleagues here who would prefer reliable free parking and a short walk over the hassle of driving around main campus looking for a possible parking space followed by anything up to 20 minutes' walk to and from work.

Thank you for giving staff the opportunity to give feedback before a decision is made (in contrast with the decisions on Westwood restaurant)!

: 12 Oct 2005 16:12 |  Comments (7) |  Close comments |  Report a problem