We all need a car, right? We all know how many vehicles we own or need when we move into a new property? We are told what is acceptable and is not. So why are our streets so full of inconsiderate parking?

Add this to an increase in population and a decline in public transport and increase in train travel and the problem is overwhelming.

When one visits or looks at parking in, say, Europe we find very few cars out on the streets. They are either in the garages or on a driveway. The streets are therefor used for what they are intended (to drive on) and traffic flows smoothly and efficiently.

It was revealed to me recently why this could have been caused in part. After the World War Two conflict America gave huge loans to Europe, including The UK, to help rebuild and restructure the damage caused by years of destruction.

Most countries used this aid to good use but what did we do here in the UK, we spent it on our National Health Service set up and Benefit System. Very little was done to improve our infrastructure and we just patched up the mess as cheaply as possible, a sticking plaster repair if you like. It is little wonder we have been left with outdated street plans, unmodernised roads and poor quality town centres.

New homes are built with communal parking, garages and some driveway space set aside for the car but often these homes are bought by people with more than the allotted cars for the space provided and have no intention of using the garage for it’s purpose of use.

There is a case for an excuse for garage builders of the past making the size unuseable for the modern car as the width and length of vehicles have increased over the decades but why build a brand new carport or garage which is not fit for purpose? So many are either turned into extra rooms or are used for anything but the car.

A friend of mine is horrified to see garages full of junk and rubbish yet their second most expensive possession (after the home) is left out on the street in all weathers and at risk of being hit by other drivers or target of vandalism. But No One seems to care.

The flow of traffic is constantly being hindered by street-parked vehicles, the pavements are blocked and damaged by cars mounting the curbs to give a narrowest space for traffic to squeeze through and pedestrians can find it hard to be seen properly when needing to cross the roads.

As for the emergency services!! It must be a nightmare for them and I suspect many lives are lost or properties are needlessly ruined as a result of a lack of speedy access.

Why move into a property with five cars when there is only room for three off the street? These folk should be fined. Its a different matter if one has guests as there may be no alternative but this would be a temporary matter.

I appreciate our older terraced street layout has it’s limitations and street parking is unavoidable but quite often some of the busier ones are made one way to allow both sides to be designated to parking.

It won’t be long before our, once beautiful and envied, island become one huge car park and it will be easier to walk from car roof to car roof than is will to navigate our shrinking streets.

The only other option is to develop underground parking for all our homes or build our homes on stilts leaving space under the ground floor.