What is Current Parking Situation in the Old Town?

Martin Pounce summarises initial findings from the parking survey

As part of the research phase I conducted two surveys in February and March. The first counted the number of spaces at different times of day in the High Street, Market Square, Broadway and Whielden Street.

High Street was divided into three sections: High Street West (from Mill Lane to Drake’s Almshouses); High Street Middle (from Drake’s Almshouses to Thornhill Close including the middle of the road parking); High Street East (from Thornhill Close to Market Hall). Whielden Street was also divided in three: Whielden Street North (from Market Square to the Platt), Whielden Street Middle (from the Platt to the bus stop opposite Gilbert Scott Court) and Whielden Street South (the free parking bays outside Amersham Hospital).

I counted spaces from Monday to Sunday of the week beginning 23 February.

The tables below show the number of spaces on each of the days.

Monday 23 February

 

High St west

High St middle

High St east

Market Square

Broadway

Whielden St north

Whielden St middle

Whielden St south

7.00

26

41

17

4

21

0

2

10

9.00

18

17

0

0

16

0

0

0

11.00

7

2

0

0

4

0

0

1

13.00

9

2

0

0

4

1

0

1

15.00

16

12

2

1

4

0

1

0

17.00

24

31

20

4

17

1

9

10

19.00

13

39

12

0

4

0

0

14

21.00

xx

xx

xx

xx

xx

xx

 

 

 

Tuesday 24 February

 

High St west

High St middle

High St east

Market Square

Broadway

Whielden St north

Whielden St middle

Whielden St south

7.00

23

50

11

5

27

1

1

14

9.00

16

12

0

0

15

0

1

0

11.00

2

0

0

0

2

0

1

0

13.00

4

0

0

0

0

0

3

0

15.00

4

12

0

0

2

0

3

0

17.00

25

15

5

3

11

0

2

5

19.00

XX

XX

XX

XX

XX

XX

XX

XX

21.00

XX

XX

XX

XX

XX

XX

XX

XX

 

Wednesday 25 February

 

High St west

High St middle

High St east

Market Square

Broadway

Whielden St north

Whielden St middle

Whielden St south

7.00

22

46

19

2

25

0

6

10

9.00

20

18

0

0

5

0

0

0

11.00

4

2

0

0

4

0

0

0

13.00

2

3

0

0

0

0

0

0

15.00

5

9

0

0

6

0

4

0

17.00

10

10

1

0

17

1

5

7

19.00

3

39

8

0

0

0

4

9

21.00

XX

XX

XX

XX

XX

XX

XX

XX

 

Thursday 26 February.

 

High St west

High St middle

High St east

Market Square

Broadway

Whielden St north

Whielden St middle

Whielden St south

7.00

19

49

13

1

24

1

6

11

9.00

18

8

0

0

10

0

1

0

11.00

1

7

0

1

5

1

0

0

13.00

1

3

0

0

6

0

1

1

15.00

4

16

3

0

6

0

0

1

17.00

11

23

8

0

21

1

5

14

19.00

14

20

0

0

0

0

4

14

21.00

6

28

2

0

7

2

2

15

 

Friday 27 February

 

High St west

High St middle

High St east

Market Square

Broadway

Whielden St north

Whielden St middle

Whielden St south

7.00

24

49

19

5

29

xx

x

x

9.00

19

9

0

1

4

0

1

8

11.00

1

5

2

0

1

1

1

2

13.00

1

0

0

0

0

3

4

0

15.00

4

14

4

0

0

6

10

0

17.00

20

20

0

0

1

4

2

15

19.00

5

17

0

0

1

0

0

12

21.00

2

16

3

0

0

0

2

7

 

The pattern on weekdays

This shows the High Street spaces filling up from the Market Hall between 9.00 and 13.00; spaces beginning to reappear in the afternoon and then reducing in the evening as pub and restaurant customers arrive.

The north and middle of Whielden Street have very few spaces at any time and the free parking bays fill up by 9.00 and empty between 15.00 and 17.00.

 

Week-end spaces

Saturday 28 February

 

High St west

High St middle

High St east

Market Square

Broadway

Whielden St north

Whielden St middle

Whielden St south

7.00

23

48

18

5

27

0

4

20

9.00

23

16

1

2

20

2

3

18

11.00

14

22

0

2

2

1

1

3

13.00

2

16

2

0

2

1

1

2

15.00

xx

xx

xx

xx

xx

xx

x

x

17.00

13

24

8

0

13

0

3

14

19.00

xx

xx

xx

xx

xx

0

1

9

21.00

9

11

8

0

19

1

4

12

 

Sunday 1 March

 

High St west

High St middle

High St east

Market Square

Broadway

Whielden St north

Whielden St middle

Whielden St south

7.00

23

26

21

4

28

0

10

14

9.00

19

32

19

1

14

0

9

13

11.00

17

29

1

0

0

0

7

14

13.00

7

21

6

0

1

0

4

14

15.00

7

7

0

0

3

0

0

5

17.00

18

33

10

1

13

0

3

14

19.00

15

36

11

3

2

1

2

12

21.00

20

37

20

3

16

0

4

12

 

Dovecote Car Park

In the same week, I counted spaces in Dovecote Car Park. This shows the number of free spaces including – in the right column – the number of available disabled parking spaces.

The tables below show an interesting pattern:

Monday 23 February

7.00

xx

xx

9.00

xx

xx

11.00

105

9

13.00

70

10

15.00

78

9

17.00

xx

xx

19.00

171

9

21.00

xx

xx

 

Tuesday 24 February

7.00

xx

10

9.00

xx

10

11.00

67

6

13.00

53

xx

15.00

59

10

17.00

110

10

19.00

xx

xx

21.00

xx

xx

Wednesday 25 February

7.00

177

10

9.00

78

10

11.00

80

9

13.00

37

8

15.00

66

6

17.00

122

10

19.00

154

9

21.00

xx

xx

 

Thursday 26 February

7.00

177

10

9.00

116

10

11.00

86

10

13.00

65

10

15.00

86

10

17.00

130

9

19.00

165

10

21.00

140

10

Friday 27 February

Counting missed

 

 

Saturday 28 February

Counting missed

 

Sunday 1 March

7.00

174

10

 

9.00

170

10

 

11.00

130

10

 

13.00

129

10

 

15.00

140

10

 

17.00

167

10

 

19.00

176

10

 

21.00

175

10

 

 

 

 

It seems from this that Dovecote Car Park is never full – although the picture may be different in the summer when tourism is stronger.

How long do parked cars stay?

A few weeks later, I conducted a survey to discover what time cars arrived and left in the High Street. The table below shows the census for 10 March. I used small, different coloured tickets – white for cars which were parked at 7.00, pink for cars parking between 7.00 and 9.00, green for cars parking between 9.00 and 11.45, and yellow for cars arriving before 13.30. The timings varied a little from day to day because of my other commitments but every weekday showed a similar pattern.

Wednesday 11 March

 

White

Pink

Green

Yellow

None

Total

7.00

117

 

 

 

 

117

9.00

77

94

 

 

 

171

11.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

13.00

56

82

 

55

 

193

15.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

17.00

49

45

 

12

43

149

Thursday 12 March

 

White

Pink

Green

Yellow

None

Total

7.00

118

 

 

 

 

118

9.00

88

101

 

 

 

189

11.00

65

84

33

 

 

182

13.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

15.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

17.00

50

44

10

 

42

146

Friday 13 March

 

White

Pink

Green

Yellow

None

 

7.00

112

 

 

 

 

112

9.00

87

70

 

 

 

157

11.00

70

52

68

 

 

190

13.00

58

49

36

50

 

193

15.00

56

42

18

12

44

172

17.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday 14 March

 

White

Pink

Green

Yellow

None

 

7.00

125

 

 

 

 

125

9.00 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.00

100

58

 

 

 

158

12.30

77

39

60

 

 

176

14.30

66

35

19

52

 

172

16.30

58

25

8

25

32

148

Sunday 15 March

 

White

Pink

Green

Yellow

None

Total

7.00

118

 

 

 

 

118

9.30

104

17

 

 

 

121

12.00

71

9

65

 

 

145

14.30

65

8

27

78

 

178

16.30

57

8

21

28

59

173

There were 110-120 cars parked in the High Street at 7.00. A large number had left by 9.00 – presumably residents driving to work – but almost half were parked all day. Between 101 (on Thursday) and 70 (on Friday) cars arrived in the High Street before 9.00 and about half of those remained until after 4 o’clock. On 10 March only a quarter of the cars parking between 9.00 and 11.45 remained at 4 o’clock.