THE future of a church community in Ebbw Vale is in doubt after members of the congregation were given parking tickets - despite believing they had permission to park on double yellow lines, writes Emily Withers.

Although there are double yellow lines painted on the road outside Christ Church, in Church Crescent, members of the congregation have understood a long-standing agreement was in place allowing to park on the markings during services and when on church business.

And this apparent arrangement has worked out without a hitch for some time - so churchgoers were shocked when they left a service on Thursday, October 3, to find they had been issued with parking tickets.

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Church warden Terry Edwards said the agreement involving the police, the council and the church had been in place since 2000.

"Up until now, we have never had a problem," he said. "In total six of us received parking fines on October 3.

“I spoke to a parking enforcement officer who had no idea about the agreement, and he advised us to go to the council.

"All six of us followed this advice, but we got nowhere."

He added he had written to Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council - which took over responsibility for enforcing on-road parking in the area earlier this year - as well as the South Wales Parking Group - which deals with appeals relating to parking fines - but had received no response.

But the council denied any agreement with the church.

In a statement, a spokesman for the council said: “There is no agreement between the members of Christ Church, Ebbw Vale and the council with regard to parking along Church Street, Ebbw Vale.

“The council’s enforcement policy does not allow exemptions for members/visitors of churches.”

They added: “The purpose of enforcing the traffic orders throughout the borough is to improve the highway network for the safety and benefit of all highway users, including pedestrians, driver and emergency services."

But Mr Edwards said he was concerned the church itself could be under threat if this continued.

“I have been a member of Christ Church for 60 years, and I can see that we will have to start closing over winter, as our church is unsustainable with the current parking situation," he said. "We have several members in their 80s, who struggle to walk any distance at all, and they cannot attend services unless they are able to park right outside.

“Our numbers have been affected already. Last Sunday we only had 17 members for service, where we usually get around 30.

"There has never been an accident as a result of our parking, and the council cannot see the effect this is having on our church community.”