AN experimental village parking scheme designed to clear up the roads surrounding Welwyn North railway station is set to be made permanent at a meeting tonight (Wednesday).

The temporary traffic regulation order, which has been running since October 2009 in Digswell, sees double yellow lines painted across the village’s roads.

The scheme has also blocked commuters from using the free car park on Digswell Park Road.

Two objections have been made to the plans, which have been recommended to be put through at tonight’s Cabinet Housing and Planning Panel meeting.

The first is from a commuter who believes parking on roads does not create difficulties for residents and that parking in the station car park at �1,378 per annum is too expensive.

It reads: “I see no reason why I should be restricted from parking on Station Road.

“Residents of course benefit enormously from living within easy walking distance of this mainline station, but they should not be allowed to decide that others, especially Welwyn residents, cannot park on Station Road when using Welwyn North.

“I have parked on Station Road on many working days in the last two years and the residents suffer no actual impairment from parking not being yellow-line restricted.

“I emphasise ‘not yellow-line restricted’ because there were already significant dropped pavement stretches and other illegal parking stretches which worked to ease the flow of vehicles such that I have never seen any resident having difficulty with access and the good and safe flow of traffic never impaired.

“Residents may selfishly not like having a car other than their own parked in front of their house but that is no loss of amenity so long as access is not impaired.”

A New Road resident wrote to complain at the lines being extended to outside their property, but was in favour of the scheme as a whole to “ensure safe visibility and access for emergency vehicles”.

The letter claimed they were not given any notification and/or consultation of lines being placed outside their home which would “cause inconvenience” should they require on-road parking.

The meeting at Campus West, WGC, starts at 7.30pm.