Congestion Zone – Parking in Hammersmith
Nick Botterill writes: The Council has responded to residents’ concerns about parking when the Congestion Charge Zone is extended to Holland Road in early 2007. As we expect a material impact, we have drawn up an action plan, the main points of which I have listed below. As an aside we met with senior representatives of NCP (car parks) recently and discussed CCX. NCP did a lot of surveying of parking pre and post the imposition of the original Congestion Charge and found almost no evidence (disappointing in their case given they run car parks) to suggest that people were parking close to the boundary of the zone and transferring to public transport. They believe that at £8, there is little benefit of switching to the Underground where a cash fare return to zone 1 is £6, plus the additional cost of parking for the period of travelling.
Our view is that we are not certain about the impact - it will probably come in areas least expected. As such we are:
1. Speeded up the introduction of Controlled parking to the areas of the borough which didn't have it already. This work is going on now and is almost complete.
2. Consulting with residents on a range of changes to Zone A (around Hammersmith Broadway). This will commence very shortly and will include options to reduce pay & display maximum stay times and put up the hourly cost. Residents will be offered the option of a scheme for their visitors at which they could pre pay for discounted parking to lessen the burden for genuine visitors. Assuming residents are supportive (not a given with anything to do with parking) then the changes could be made to the existing scheme in the spring.
3. Set out a rolling programme of reviewing all zones closest to the border of CCX or around tube stations or which suddenly experience increased stress due to CCX. While this will follow on from Zone A, unfortunately it is impossible to schedule the considerable work which will be necessary all in the immediate months following CCX. The process, which is laid down, requires consultation with residents on changes to the parking in their area followed by introduction on a temporary basis followed by a further consultation as to whether changes should become permanent. Traffic orders then have to be laid down etc. However we will attempt to complete as quickly as possible and have bid for significant funds from Transport for London to provide the increased manpower to do so.
Nick Botterill is Council Cabinet Member for the Environment
Nick Botterill writes: The Council has responded to residents’ concerns about parking when the Congestion Charge Zone is extended to Holland Road in early 2007. As we expect a material impact, we have drawn up an action plan, the main points of which I have listed below. As an aside we met with senior representatives of NCP (car parks) recently and discussed CCX. NCP did a lot of surveying of parking pre and post the imposition of the original Congestion Charge and found almost no evidence (disappointing in their case given they run car parks) to suggest that people were parking close to the boundary of the zone and transferring to public transport. They believe that at £8, there is little benefit of switching to the Underground where a cash fare return to zone 1 is £6, plus the additional cost of parking for the period of travelling.
Our view is that we are not certain about the impact - it will probably come in areas least expected. As such we are:
1. Speeded up the introduction of Controlled parking to the areas of the borough which didn't have it already. This work is going on now and is almost complete.
2. Consulting with residents on a range of changes to Zone A (around Hammersmith Broadway). This will commence very shortly and will include options to reduce pay & display maximum stay times and put up the hourly cost. Residents will be offered the option of a scheme for their visitors at which they could pre pay for discounted parking to lessen the burden for genuine visitors. Assuming residents are supportive (not a given with anything to do with parking) then the changes could be made to the existing scheme in the spring.
3. Set out a rolling programme of reviewing all zones closest to the border of CCX or around tube stations or which suddenly experience increased stress due to CCX. While this will follow on from Zone A, unfortunately it is impossible to schedule the considerable work which will be necessary all in the immediate months following CCX. The process, which is laid down, requires consultation with residents on changes to the parking in their area followed by introduction on a temporary basis followed by a further consultation as to whether changes should become permanent. Traffic orders then have to be laid down etc. However we will attempt to complete as quickly as possible and have bid for significant funds from Transport for London to provide the increased manpower to do so.
Nick Botterill is Council Cabinet Member for the Environment
6 comments:
Residents' Parking Bays should be reintroduced. Most residents in H&F were against their removal in the first place. If they had remained this certainly would have gone some way to alleviating any extra pressure on parking caused by the CCX. Why are K&C and Westminster allowed to have resident spaces and we are not - we pay very high council taxes in this borough so we do we not enjoy similar priveliges to those in other boroughs.
Joy Latif - Can you confirm which roads you are talking about? All the roads around Brook Green already have residents' parking bays.
Reply for Will Bethell:
In Colet Gardens we previously had 'resident only' parking spaces as well as the pay and display. The council decided to remove these spaces a few years ago and carried out a consultation with the residents. Although we overwhelmingly voted to retain them, the borough council went ahead and removed them, making the entire street pay and display. Why is it that Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster have 'resident only' spaces (some of them until 10.00 p.m. at night) and we do not. We actually pay higher council taxes than they do, yet we do not enjoy the same priveliges. In addition to this, resident parking holders in K&C are allowed to park anywhere in their borough with their permits. I would like to hear your comments on this matter.
The parking arrangements are under review during the introduction of the congestion charge extension. I will feed your comments into this review.
It would seem to me that the sensible approach would be to review the areas on the boundry of the new CCX first then to work away street by street. My principal concern is Fitzgeorge & Fitzjames Avenue. At the moment people can park from 8.30am until 8.30pm which makes it difficult for residents to find parking when they return from work. It would be better if the times were either restricted or there were controlled hours as there are around some parts of Fulham with prevision made for visitor parking during these times.
For obvious reasons, the parking review will not finish until after the Congestion Charge extension comes into force on 17 Feb. Once it is complete recommendations will be produced and residents will be given an opportunity to comment. In the meantime, you can send you comments to the Council here - http://www.lbhf.gov.uk/Directory/News_and_Media/Share_your_views_with_the_council/Share_your_views/72573_The_congestion_charge_extension.asp
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