After lobbying by local residents, Lewisham council is to review the operation of the Ladywell controlled parking zone. At the recent Ladywell Assembly council officers said they would consult residents in October this year on extending the zone to include Embleton and Ermine roads and parts of Chudleigh and Ladywell roads (see map). The proposed extensions are shown in green. The existing Ladywell CPZ is in pink.
Parking permits for residents now cost £120 a year or £35 for three months. Some have argued that the zone, which operates throughout each working day, should be more limited in scope. Others want the zone to be extended quickly because it is already causing increased congestion in neighbouring streets such as Embleton Rd.
What's your view?
13 comments:
The only purpose of a CPZ should be to resolve parking issues in a reasonable way. It is not reasonable to impose an all-day CPZ when it's clear that the problem is commuter parking and that having a short controlled parking window around the middle of the day would resolve the problem. One has to accept that this mightn't reduce the permit charge, but it would obviate the need to buy loads of visitor tickets for repairmen etc.
I raised the issue of having a short window CPZ (e.g. 11am to midday) with the council in the original consultation. Here is the response I got:
"Although we believe that the permit cost could remain close to the current price, if the CPZ were to have shorter operating hours, it is unlikely that pay and display facilities would be financially viable which could present problems for local shops/ businesses during the limited time that the zone operates. These are issues that would require very careful consideration and an overall change in policy, because any decisions made in this instance would have to be potentially applicable elsewhere in the borough"
I think Lewisham is being unreasonable and inconveniencing us residents by insisting on 9am to 7pm. Many other London boroughs (including nearby Bexley & Greenwich) have these type of short CPZ hours. As a minimum they should change to 9am - 5pm so as to avoid us having to purchase visitor permits for our evening visitors.
Perhaps someone should do a Freedom Of Information request to find out how much money is actually being collected from Pay & Display in the current Ladywell zone - I suspect not very much...
At the recent Ladywell Ward assembly, I asked the Council's parking officer how much had been collected so far in the zone (residents' and visitors' permits). The meeting was told that this information is not available as it is not collated. I find this difficult to believe as the zone has it's own identifying letter. I suggested to Cllr. Davis that he finds out what the figures, both income and running costs, as well as set-up costs. He did agree to ........ However, perhaps someone could put a Question to Council on this very subject.
I agree with Peter Tooke as regards shorter operating hours, surely this is the way to go. The problem is caused by commuters who want the convenience of a short and cheaper journey to work without contributing anything to the area.
Why would we look to penalise those people vsiting and shopping here for shorter manageable periods? If we made the CPZ only operate between 10am to 11am and/or 3pm to 4pm I don't see how this would cause any problems to anyone other than those looking to park all day. Further I don't quite understand why such a system would require pay and display meters. Simply require pre-purchased visitor tickets for those periods where parking by non-residents is not permitted.
My other concern is that having a CPZ extension is great for those of us currently severely inconvenienced by transient commuters but doesn't it just push the problem somewhere else?
I'm at the top of Ellerdale St. and the cars that parked nearer the bottom now just park here. And the problem will just keep getting pushed further on.
Cllr. Davis still hasn't answered my question as to why only half of Ellerdale St. was made part of the CPZ zone. It was stated that the roads that asked for the CPZ got it. My road obviously didn't matter.
I'm for making it certain times but of course the council won't go for that.
I agree with Simon on this. If the issue is all day commuter parking surely a short CPZ is the way to go. CPZ between say 9:30 and 10:30 would prevent all day parkers.
Let's not forget the impact that the CPZ can have on Ladywell as a local shopping centre. Living just outside the CPZ in Brockey, i am lucky to have 3 good local shopping centres near me (brockley, ladywell, and crofton park). Most of the time i visit on foot but on occasion i will be passing in the car and need to pick groceries up. I know that i cannot do this in ladywell and frequently bypass it to go to Brockley or Crofton Park where there is no CPZ. surely others must also do this to ladywells detriment.
Extending CPZ to deal with congestion in non CPZ zones on the periphery is flawed as this will only push the problem elsewhere. This would only work if the distance from the station to the edge of the zone was so great that it made parking and walking from outside the zone unviable.
During the previous consultation we were told that the longer hours were necessary because of the proximity of Lewisham Hospital. Even moving the end of the restricted period forward one hour meant that a shift change at the hospital had caused problems in other nearby zones.
As for the increase, certainly the visitor permits don't appear to be going up till January. I don't know about residents' passes.
This is good news. When will it start?
Am I the only person here who doesn't want to pay £120 a year to park outside my house? Why isn't this free for residents? Or we should just pay the amount it costs to put up the signs on a one-off charge divided by the number of houses affected.
It's not an insubstantial sum. Especially as I'm planning to live here for at least a few more years.
Everyone else seems in favour but now I can't park outside my house but on Embelton road. And now I'll have to park further up Vicars Hill - or stump up the cash. I don't mind walking a couple of streets if I get £120 in my pocket but I'll give in eventually.
So It's just pushing the problem around.
Maybe it's because I mostly drive around at weekends or evenings that I don't find the parking such a problem.
I can't help feeling it's just a cash generating exercise.
And it can't be doing what few businesses are here any good. People would drive to a place like Els but not if they have to park all the way up the other side of Hilly Fields (which is probably where it'll go after this).
Can someone explain why only certain parts of brookbank road have not only been missed out on this new consultation but they have not even recieved a form to fill in to express their views. Surely it will not be a fair "vote" if all residents are not consulted. I too agree that there should be shorter hours imposed from 8 am until 11.30 and therefor cheaper permits as it will only be enforced for a shorter time. As I have always maintained its all about the council making money and its not fair. The price os a permit in hither green has risen from £30 to £120 in 2 years so its fair to say that you will be paying £240 in the near future too.....
Lets look at this whole thing sensibly. As soon as the residents in algernon rd asked for a cpz it was always going to affect every other rd and resident in the area through overspill thats common sense (if they cant park in algernon they will just keep going up the hill). This is now proven so please dont complain just blame the residents in algernon rd. Now when they asked ermine and embleton rd we said no. We are now having to be re consulted again because of the overspill. This too was always going to happen.This time a few residents asked for the cpz to be during the day or even in the middle of the day to stop commuters. The fact is every day witness workers being dropped off from lewisham lorries and vans from wearside and getting into their cars outside my home and that of others, they are adding to the problem. Because this would mean shorter operating hours we asked for smaller fees such as £50 or £60 a year rather than £120. The council says this would not be fair on exosting residents who currently pay £120. Now this is where it gets very interesting. The council have just implemented a cpz in hither green and call it the west extension and guess what? They are only paying £60 a year for the first year (fact).Can someone in the ladywell village improvemnet group or the ladywell society ask why this is as I have been told it would be UNFAIR...
CPZ is another example of Council extortion. CPZ in nearby areas caused parking problems where I live, but rather than abolish the cause of the problem, is is seen as a solution and something we need to apply as a solution? Moreover, the council told me that the votes for CPZ are counted in the privacy of the council office. They obviously have a lot to lose from a 'no' vote. Do they think we are all idiots?
Here we go again, the Ladywell CPZ consultation pantomime is starting again as of September 2014. The boundary will be moved, and the parking misery will be displaced to another set of streets, to get them ready for a CPZ extension in 24 months. Personally, I'd favour a moderate increase in council tax which can be invested in frontline services, rather than raising money in this way which means it is ringfenced for painting lines on the road and employing parking enforcement officers. But this may be a point for debate. Perhaps this is the time to have the debate: I noticed that the council considers, for the first time, the CPZ hours of operation during the consultation.
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