A THREE-week consultation on parking in Wilmslow town centre has yielded little response from the public.

County and borough councillors thought the exercise – the first of its kind in the borough - would be just the ticket to sort out Wilmslow’s parking woes following a deluge of complaints since decriminalisation came into force in May.

But only 550 people responded to the review of the borough council’s parking strategy, and just 50 of the respondents were non-residents.

At the local joint highways committee meeting held at Macclesfield Town Hall last Wednesday, November 5, highways engineer Rob Cramer told councillors he was "disappointed" with the number of people that had filled in a questionnaire.

He said: "I was surprised at how few completed questionnaires we’ve got considering all the houses in the town centre were letter dropped. It is just a 50 per cent return which is disappointing really, and surprising."

Organised by highways watchdogs the review was intended to give residents, businesses and workers an opportunity to put forward their comments and suggestions on the new parking regime while there is still time to make changes and influence what happens next.

A five-day exhibition was held at Wilmslow library during September, where members of the public were able to view the current parking restrictions in place and some of the proposals to tackle problems which had already been identified.

Some of the general issues raised during the exercise included requests for residents parking schemes, provision for visitors parking, whether major supermarkets should refund short stay parking costs and a request for residents parking schemes from properties which have only one off road parking space.

However, councillors were told that it will still take several weeks before the results of the consultation could be fully analysed, and that the comments for each response are being collated firstly by street or area and then by people who live outside the town centre.

Mr Cramer said: "Officers will now consider the results of the exercise and work with local members and nominated spokespersons where appropriate to develop a set of proposals."

Councillors then voted for Macclesfield to be the next town to undergo the on-street parking review.

Councillor Ainsley Arnold said: "I think it is important that we look at Macclesfield urgently. Residents in Macclesfield have not yet had that chance and the parking scheme has exacerbated the situation in the town centre."

Mr Cramer added: "It is anticipated that the Wilmslow review will be complete by next spring, although the orders for any proposals will not be made until later in the year under the authority of the new East Cheshire Council. Therefore, it is anticipated that the Macclesfield review could be undertaken in spring/summer 2009."