Richard Wilson

Over the summer Ed, Laura and I launched a survey of parking issues in the roads just outside the new Crouch End Controlled Parking Zone – as we were being inundated with complaints from residents.  We felt we had to do our own survey as the Council had broken their pledge to hold a consultation after the new CPZ was implemented.

We’ve now had several hundred responses from the roads bordering the Crouch End and Finsbury Park CPZs.  The results so far show:

• Three quarters of respondents say parking has got worse in the last 6 months
• 62% say they are now in favour of a CPZ – with many residents saying they have been forced to change their anti-CPZ views
• The vast majority of residents would want a CPZ to be operational for only 2 hours

These figures show that local people in roads such as Mount View, Ferme Park, Stapleton Hall, Granville and Quernmore, think the parking problem is getting even worse and want the Council to take action.  We are using the results to demand that the Council conduct a proper consultation with residents as soon as possible.  But we are also pledging to scrutinise any Council proposals for new parking restrictions, to ensure they are focused on solving the problem – not boosting Council coffers.

We will be closing the survey very soon to present the full results to the Council, so if you haven’t yet had your say please fill it out online as soon as possible (link here).  This parking mess is largely of the Council’s own making – and they need to listen to residents views on how to sort it out.

My post last month ‘what happens to all the missing doors?’, on the amount of phone cabinets on our streets with missing doors, generated lots of comments.   Councillors from as far away as Tottenham and Lewisham commented to say its also a problem in their area. According to the comments, the doors and cables inside are often stolen – and sometimes the doors are removed after they break and wont shut.

Today I reported these further missing phone cabinet doors on Albany Road near the junction with Mount View Road.  I don’t know if you can tell from the photo, but the wires and gadgets inside are all shiny and brand new – so it seems strange that the phone or cable company would just leave it like this.

It all still seems a bit of mystery to me how these doors keep disappearing.  Nobody ever seems to see it happen.