A new order has been secured by Carlisle City Council to stop vehicles parking overnight in Rickerby Park.
Councillor Elizabeth Mallinson said: “They’ve now been approved and signs are going up. It now means we’ll have better control on being able to move people on that park over night.”
She said that the council had been trying to find a solution for stopping overnight parking and applications for traffic regulation orders have now been approved.
The experimental road traffic order gives the council powers to be able to restrict parking in the three car parks of Rickerby plus anywhere else in the park.”
She added: “We’re doing it for 18 months so we can monitor if it’s successful.”
Cllr Mallinson, who also represents Stanwix and Houghton on Cumbria County Council, said that if the pilot did work, the parking order could become permanent.
She said that traveller encampments have cropped-up at Rickerby Park a number of times without authorisation.
“Overnight parking from camper vans or tourists passing through, without these traffic orders it’s virtually impossible to enforce. More importantly, we’ve had periodically, groups of travellers stopping on the way to or from Appleby Horse Fair.”
Litter and waste is sometimes left in the wake of unauthorised traveller encampments which then has to be cleared away by the local authorities.
Cllr Mallinson said: “By the time we’ve got a court order to move them, it could take three weeks. Police are very reluctant to move them on without a court order.”
She added that litter left by those staying overnight is harmful to the environment and ruins Carlisle residents’ experience of Rickerby Park which offers views of the River Eden.
