The Mayor has agreed to another round of consultations on controlled parking zones (CPZs) in a number of areas, including two within Ladywell ward - one around Ladywell village itself and the other for Sunninghill Road. Sunninghill Road is likely to be consulted quite soon over extending the Central Lewisham CPZ to include their road, as the new medical centre has exacerbated their parking problems. However the main Ladywell CPZ consultation is unlikely to take place until April next year (the date has already slipped back several times) as they are consulting a number of other areas first.Everyone in the proposed area should get a consultation leaflet through their door. If you live outside the area being consulted, you will still be entitled to ask for a form or complete and return a response online.
Whatever your views on CPZs, it is important that as many residents as possible return the document so your views are considered. The borough's policy is only to implement a CPZ if the majority of residents in an area support it. Last time Ladywell was consulted (2005 I believe), there was a very low response rate and as a result only the top end of Algernon Road and the adjacent roads were added to the Central Lewisham CPZ.
I know it's an issue that provokes strong feelings both ways, and as councillors we get a number of enquiries from residents about parking pressures. I suspect that a number of residents in Ladywell, particularly in Malyons Road, Marsala Road, Gillian Street and Ellerdale Street may welcome the proposals, as these are the roads that seem to be particularly affected by commuter parking.
Click here to see a map of the area the Council plans to consult for the proposed Ladywell CPZ.
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4 comments:
This is fantastic news for the area. During the day, there is a constant turnover of non-residential traffic taking advantage of free parking in the area. Considering the otherwise quiet nature of my street, the traffic is way out of proportion, and dangerous so close to a school. It is about time that Lewisham practiced it's policies on transport. Having free parking close to the DLR, a Zone 2 mainline station and a town centre is hardly going to dissuade people from using their cars, or help towards targets to reduce traffic in the borough. Finally, as a car owner (but infrequent user) I was cheesed-off the other day when a non-resident parking outside the house hit my car 4 times while trying to park, I had to go out and tell her to stop- generally this wont happen with neighbours park amongst neighbours.
Rob sheppard has just sent emails to members of the ladywell society yahoo group informing everyone that,
"he has it on good authority that the cpz will be going ahead with over 70% of respondents in favour of the CPZ" I FOR ONE FIND THIS NEWS AMAZING ESPECIALLY AS THE COUNCIL HAVE NOT EVEN ANNOUNCED THIS NEWS YET!Another fact that It,s not what you know about local government , it,s who you know.Brookbank road dry cleaners and the news agents next door supplied to LBL petitions with nearly 500 signatures against the cpz but still it goes ahead? I can,t get my head around this.What I will do though is bet my last pound that that there were not 500 respondents in favour of the cpz.The whole thing smells of a corruption.
I don't have a detailed breakdown of the consultation results yet, but have been promised by highways officers that it's coming soon. They are also hoping to get a letter out to residents in the area consulted with an overview of the results, within the next few weeks.
Rob Sheppard contacted highways officers directly and asked for an update on when the results would be ready. I suspect that all highways officers have told Rob is what they told the Ladywell ward assembly steering group when we met them a few weeks ago. I've been holding off writing anything on this blog until I have more detailed information and a fuller picture, but the basic points the officer divulged were 1) some streets were clearly in favour and some were clearly against. 2) Those nearest the station and the town centre were generally in favour, whereas those further up Ladywell Road towards the cemeteries were against. 3) There was a higher response rate than they have had in other areas they've consulted. 4) It looks like officers might proceed to do a statutory consultation for a CPZ, but for a smaller area than was originally consulted, based on the responses they've received.
Sounds like a fairly predictable outcome- those currently blighted by commuter & shopper parking who asked for the scheme support the CPZ, and those who currently don’t suffer are opposed. I have spoken to loads of people in my street and they can't wait for a CPZ, I imagine the same is true in neighbouring streets on the periphery of the existing controlled areas.
I am not a fan of a lot of Lewisham Councils’ usually maddening activities, but I doubt the council would have any interest in getting involved in “corruption” to put in a CPZ! I am sure our elected politicians have publicly adopted policies that support this type of initiative- the consultation is probably “good practice” rather than some kind of referendum. I can’t imagine that the scheme will represent a significant financial advantage, I do imagine it does involve a lot of skilled work.
It is really quite attractive for those living outside London to drive to us and walk to a zone 2 station- they park for free and save hundreds of pounds on rail fares. Unless the zone is big enough, these people will move the edge of the new area and those who have excluded themselves will become the people in favour of an expansion- and so it will go on…
Lewisham have funding identified now for the scheme, it may be years before they have the funding to change the zone so the results of a compromise zone area may be with us for some time to come.
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