WALTHAMSTOW:Fury over CPZ plan
3:13pm Monday 8th February 2010 in
A PLAN for a permit parking zone in a quiet area of Walthamstow has been slammed by residents.
The council is currently consulting on making a large residential area surrounding Lloyd Park a controlled parking zone (CPZ).
This would mean motorists having to pay up to £90 a year to park in their street and up to £170 for a second car.
CPZs are designed to prevent commuters from parking in streets, but residents have told the Guardian that finding spaces in the area is not a problem.
Jane Nevill, 51, of Douglas Avenue, estimates the zone could cost her and her husband Danny up to £300, including visitor permits.
She said: “We don't need a parking zone, there are no shops or train stations around here and there is always somewhere around here to park.
“I think this is just about making money.”
Mrs Nevill will tonight be among a group of residents knocking on doors to collect petitions against the scheme.
Residents have attended two council consultation events about the proposed scheme.
David Bull, of Ardleigh Terrace, said: “Every person there was of the opinion that this was just another money-making exercise by this council with a total disregard to whether or not we the residents want it.
“This has not come about because there is nowhere for people to park.
“Indeed if that was the case there are many areas that could be made available for parking on the Lloyd Park estate - namely the grassed areas where the houses sit back from the road.”
The council's consultation leaflet says that since permit zones were introduced last year in the streets around Waltham Forest theatre and the William Morris Gallery, there has been less daytime parking in those areas.
But there is now added congestion in the area to the north of the existing zones, meaning residents find it difficult to park outside or near to their homes, said the document.
Residents have until February 17 to have their say on the proposals, after which councillors will make a decision.
In 2007 the council scrapped the requirement for a majority 'yes' vote from residents before a CPZ can be introduced.
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Comments(18)
Techno2
says...
4:02pm Mon 8 Feb 10
Silent Majority 2009
says...
5:27pm Mon 8 Feb 10
Residents will have to start a campaign of civil disobedience before the council will start to listen.
For years residents throughout the Borough have spent hours arguing with councilllors and officers but they refuse to listen and carry on regardless. It is a very unfair tax as it hits those who depend on visitors most and has not been applied to every resident in the Borough. If they need the extra revenue then put up the council tax so that everyone shares the load.
RayJay
says...
5:29pm Mon 8 Feb 10
There are parking problems in the area but not during the day when the restrictions would operate. These problems have mainly been caused by the CPZ's introduced North of Forest Rd. from the town hall to the fire station.
What annoys me most is the cavalier approach the council have taken by not carrying out a proper public consultation and not looking at alternatives.
There are several blogs on this e.g. http://walthamforest
parkingzones.blogspo
t.com/
Local residents should make sure they return their questionnaire which really is just 1 question, yes or no, but they should have been more informed and consulted 1st.
As a point of interest the grant of £4 million to Lloyd Park I believe had a clause saying that visitor numbers must increase but since the previous CPZ's were introduced numbers have reduced and now they want to extend it.
Heartlysmum
says...
6:14pm Mon 8 Feb 10
Tom Thumb
says...
7:58pm Mon 8 Feb 10
The permit charge for one car is £45, which is one of the lowest charges in London. If you choose to own a gas guzzler or a turbo-charged sports car you pay more, quite rightly.
I know people who now bitterly regret their opposition to a CPZ, as they now find it impossible to park near their house.
Commuters go to extraordinary lengths to avoid paying parking charges and use local streets for all day free parking while they go off to the tube or train.
You really notice the difference once a CPZ has come into operation.
Redfox
says...
8:36pm Mon 8 Feb 10
Almost everywhere in Waltham Forest will soon have a CPZ, so why not the "exclusive, we're all right Jack" thinking people of the Penrhyn location?
It's high time people starting getting rid of their cars and took up buying a bike and becoming more fit, less fat and more friendly towards the environment. Oh, and into the bargain encouraging their kids to be likewise.
stylus70
says...
9:17pm Mon 8 Feb 10
mdj
says...
9:59pm Mon 8 Feb 10
Interesting; could people not be trusted to give the right answer?
Techno2
says...
11:23pm Mon 8 Feb 10
Redfox wrote:I was in a car the other day with a friend when we decided to pop into one of the local cafes. There was nowhere to park. In the end, due to the shortage of legal places to park, we just drove home. We'd wasted petrol trying to find a place to park and this business lost trade.
I can't see what's wrong with the proposal. Almost everywhere in Waltham Forest will soon have a CPZ, so why not the "exclusive, we're all right Jack" thinking people of the Penrhyn location? It's high time people starting getting rid of their cars and took up buying a bike and becoming more fit, less fat and more friendly towards the environment. Oh, and into the bargain encouraging their kids to be likewise.
Once everywhere is a CPZ, visitors or people travelling from one part of the borough to do business in another part will have nowhere left to park except the limited number of designated car-parks. Illegal parking will increase, of course, for a bit, and the council will take its cut in fines, but in the end it might have the effect of increasing number of people just not wanting to use our amenities or come into the borough at all.
RayJay
says...
12:49am Tue 9 Feb 10
Tom Thumb wrote:Redfox & Tom Thumb
CPZs have in the past had majority support. The protests come from an unrepresentative minority, usually people who own two or three vehicles and who make life impossible for everyone else. The permit charge for one car is £45, which is one of the lowest charges in London. If you choose to own a gas guzzler or a turbo-charged sports car you pay more, quite rightly. I know people who now bitterly regret their opposition to a CPZ, as they now find it impossible to park near their house. Commuters go to extraordinary lengths to avoid paying parking charges and use local streets for all day free parking while they go off to the tube or train. You really notice the difference once a CPZ has come into operation.
I have absolutely no argument with the fact that CPZ's can make a difference.
I also would support the £45 if I could park my car in the evening after I have been out to do physical training myself whilst also helping local youngsters to participate in physical activity (p.s. no bikes involved) .
My ONE car, by the way, is not a gas guzzler or a turbo-charged sports car.
I am a member of the Lloyd Park community, whether I am part of the "unrepresentative minority" or not we will see, but from what I have heard I am part of the mainstream opinion.
My opinion is that I live in the borough, I pay rates to the borough, why can't I park in the borough. Unfortunately I live in a poorer high density population area, and space for parking is restricted. Meanwhile however better off individuals living in a more affluent area of the borough can have off-road parking in their drive with numerous gas guzzlers or turbo-charged sports cars parked on it and not contribute any extra to the borough so why should I ?
Make CPZ's free for all residents that pay their local taxes, (commuters would still pay), but residents that live near stations and shopping centres would be given exclusive rights to park in their local area.
I have lived in the borough for 50+ years and this is the most divisive topic I have ever encountered mainly because nobody has done their homework.
So Tom-Thumb & Redfox start talking to people, start understanding their opinions, start listening before you cram your bigoted opinions down peoples throat. You are creating antagonism!
hotredman
says...
2:01am Tue 9 Feb 10
This CPZ thing is merely another way for the council to get money, they are looking at as many ways as possible ot get money from the most stupidist and greedy schemes. They have drive a lot of businesses away, they would soon do the same with residents, then soon they would have to increase council taxes etc more to cover the shortfall of people. Then what would nobrainers like yourself say.
The area which it is proposed, I cannot see any local objective for people who dont live there to go and park there, it is almost away from everything. So merely it isjust a cash cow.
I would laugh my **** off at the day they would come up with a tax for cyclists, and see what a twit like redfox would say. You would see within the next 50 years, they would come up with some kind of tax.
Helen, Walthamstow
says...
8:57am Tue 9 Feb 10
If they changed that to 50 per cent or more of eligible residents must vote in favour before a CPZ before it can be implemented, it would be a different story.
Earle Martin
says...
2:48pm Tue 9 Feb 10
How about some more bike racks at all our public facilities? Or, in fact, any bike racks AT ALL?
http://crapwalthamfo
rest.blogspot.com/20
09/06/places-with-no
-cycle-parking-in-wa
ltham.html
alexkerry
says...
6:03pm Wed 10 Feb 10
I object to the argument that parking schemes are needed to persuade people to be green. I live here and commute in to central london by bicycle. However, I need my car for the weekends when I visit friends and family all over the country.
How can anyone vote for a scheme without knowing how much it is going to cost them? Presumably it is only people without cars who will vote yes.
Is it fair for the council to run the scheme for a profit? Why especially penalise those people who need cars?
Why even suggest a scheme when there is currently always free spaces near to everyone's house, available for free to residents and their visitors?
Does the council really expect us to come to an alternative view? Doesn't this poor judgement of theirs call into question their ability to do anything else right? Do they make equally bad decisions every day behind closed doors?
RayJay
says...
11:42am Thu 11 Feb 10
If it wasn't for the council introducing CPZ's in the LP & WA areas there would be no parking problem.
If the CPZ is introduced here it will move the problem elsewhere causing bad feeling somewhere else and dividing the community.
CPZ's are a cancer spreading across the borough & soon LBWF will soon become LBCPZ.
chris duran
says...
8:20pm Thu 11 Feb 10
If it is true that CPZ's have majority support, why has the Council changed the rules so that they no longer require majority support to impose them? and, why should I give the Council any money at all for the privilege of parking in a public road when I already pay Road Tax?
People I know who live in CPZ areas complain about the hidden costs such as visitors permits which keep going up.
One further point: even leaving aside the fact that the Lloyds Park CPZ has nothing to do with limiting commuters; the much reviled commuters are just working people leaving their cars so they can go to work.
Most working people are at work when these monsters are parked in our streets and at home when they are gone, and the CPZ stops operating.
CPZ's are are an attack on working people from outside the area, and of very little benefit to working people inside the area.
myopinioncounts
says...
12:45pm Sun 14 Feb 10
Fortunately enough residents were willing to make their objections known and the scheme was shelved.We were informed that it may be reconsidered in the future so they have not given up hope of forcing one on us!.
I think the council rely on apathy or the inability of some residents to understand the forms to claim that the CPZ is has not been rejected.
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Residents are angry that the council wants to put a parking zone in their area.
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Touchwood says...
3:18pm Mon 8 Feb 10