Commuters are causing major problems on a Stockport road by parking their cars for free and catching the train to Manchester for the day, residents have said.

Gradwell Street in Edgeley is just minutes from Stockport railway station which has a direct train connection to central Manchester and London.

There's a parking permit scheme in place for residents living in the terraced houses on the road, but people in the Harrisson Court apartment block are having to share a tiny section of the pavement on Gradwell Street where anyone can park for free.

The apartment block was recently built and has 73 homes and 16 allocated private parking spaces.

People in Harrisson Court have launched a petition asking Stockport council if they can join the parking permit scheme on the street so they can leave their cars closer to home.

The petition says: 'This request is a result of the difficulty residents face to park in the area due to the overloaded private car park that fails to meet the needs of the building.

'In addition to this, the unpermitted parking on Gradwell Street outside Harrisson Court is often used as free parking by patrons of the nearby train station or those working in or visiting the town centre and is crowded as a result.

'There is ample permitted parking on Gradwell Street that all residents could be included in.'

Cllr Grace Baynham, Stockport council's cabinet member for parks, highways and transport services, said: "We recognise the parking pressures around Gradwell Street, where there is limited on‑street parking space.

"We understand the daily impact this has on residents, including those with mobility issues and we will review the current residents' parking scheme to ensure it is operating as intended."

One man living in Harrisson Court, who did not want to give his name, said: "There's not enough space for all the people here [on Gradwell Street], we have to go all the way to the other end of the road to find a spot, but some people just can't walk that far for different reasons.

"It wouldn't surprise me if people [commuters/visitors] are parking here and going to the train station.

"It's always busy here and parking does affect us, it's just things like if you have something big to carry home or people with medical needs, it's small stuff like that which adds up."

Harrisson Court is managed by Plumlife, part of Great Places Housing Group.

A spokesperson from Plumlife said: "When the development was built, a limited number of parking spaces were created in accordance with the planning permission granted by the local authority, as the building boasts fantastic public transport links.

"There are 73 apartments within Harrisson Court and 16 private car parking spaces; these spaces were made available to residents and have now been allocated.

"There is an option to negotiate season ticket rates at the nearby NCP car park for residents who wish to take advantage of the offer.

"We are aware that there are long-standing challenges with parking in the local area and we are working to try and find solutions such as negotiated rates at nearby car parks and encouraging the use of local transport links."

Iain McNab, 60, is a resident on Gradwell Street in the Hilton Court building, which is next to Harrisson Court.

"We have had people dump their cars here and walk to the [railway] station," he said.

"We have parking in our building [Hilton Court] so we're okay. With all the new flats going up [in Stockport] it could become a nightmare for some people, they will have to put in a lot of parking spaces.

"A lot of people drive so I would assume they will want a parking space with their flat. It's good they're building Stockport up but parking is an issue."

Norman Evans, 73, has lived in a house on Gradwell Street for 60 years. He has a driveway and can also use the designated parking spots reserved for permit holders.

He said: "Parking used to be a nightmare but the resident parking scheme is great, but I think the people living in the new buildings might be struggling.

"If all of them have a car they've not got a chance of getting a space. We used to get people parking here and going to the station and staying for a few weeks."

Asa Caton is a Councillor in Edgeley and said parking is an issue for residents in the area.

"It's a problem with people just parking wherever they want and jumping on a train to Manchester or down south," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"It's always been busy around there and Harrisson Court is the Great Places building opposite the train station, we've had a load of new residents move there and there's probably not the best parking provision."

Cllr Caton raised concerns that if residents in Harrisson Court joined the parking permit scheme on Gradwell Street, there still might not be enough spaces for everyone,

He added: "If you add up all the cars using Gradwell Street, you've got residents, Hilton Court and Harrison Court, and commuters as well, I don't think there's enough spaces to cover all of it.

"Even if there was a residents parking scheme I'm not sure all of the problems will go away, that's my concern.

"With the best will in the world you can encourage people not to use cars but it's not going to happen overnight, my feeling is people will move in with cars and over time move away from using it, so you're going to have short term pain and the council just aren't thinking about it."

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