Richard Wilson

A few weeks ago I wrote to the Haringey Council Director in charge of parking, demanding that the Council do not renege on their promise to deal quickly with parking problems caused by the new Crouch End CPZ.  As I said in my previous post the Council had emailed me to say they were dropping plans to allow roads where there was strong support amongst residents to be fast-tracked into a CPZ.

Last week I got my response.  Apparently, ‘the Council has not broken any promises’ – its just that our roads aren’t a priority yet:  The letter says a review of the Finsbury Park CPZ (including consultation with streets outside the CPZ such as Granville Road and Mountview Road) is on a ‘provisional list’ for 2010/11.

The Council have promised to review the Finsbury Park CPZ countless times over the last 4 years – but we never seem to rise to the top of the pile!  The Council’s refusal to listen on this issue has spurred Ed, Laura and I into action – and we are now testing out our own parking survey with local residents.  More on this soon…

You may remember from my previous post Displacement fears over new resident parking zone that the Council said it would hold consultations on extending the new Crouch End Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) to nearby roads if there was clear demand.  This pledge gave some hope to residents of roads like Mount View Road, Granville Road and Ferme Park Road, who are now finding it very difficult to park.

However, the Council have now said that they will not be funding any consultations to extend the CPZ during the 2009/10 financial year.  This means that roads that now have severe parking problems cannot even have a say on whether resident-only parking is needed until April 2010 at the very earliest.  And the earliest any road could get a CPZ introduced would be the very end of 2010 – about 20 months after the problem started.

This is a ridiculous way to go about dealing with residents, and making decisions that effect people’s daily lives!  I am very angry that promises about ‘fast-tracking’ consultations have turned out to be meaningless – only Haringey Council think that that taking 20 months is ‘fast-tracking’!  I have written to the director in charge of parking and highways at Haringey making my anger very clear, and asking him why they are ignoring the problems in these roads.

However, my view is that budget decisions aren’t written in stone and if residents make enough fuss, it could be possible to get the Council to change its mind.

I am being contacted by increasing number of residents from streets like Ferme Park Road and Mount View Road about the worsening parking situation.  On 9 March, the Council will begin enforcing a new Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) on roads in the centre of Crouch End to the west of Ferme Park Road - more details here.   The expansion of the Finsbury Park CPZ to the south has already displaced vehicles onto these streets, and residents fear that this new CPZ will make the problem even worse.

Therefore, I’ve contacted the council to find out how local residents can trigger a CPZ consultation on their road, if they wish.  The Council have told me that they will not take any action until at least 3 months after the CPZ has been implemented, so that a proper judgement about the level of displacement can be taken.  After then, a consultation can be triggered by enough people requesting one – for instance through a petition.

Parking is not an issue of political ideology and its my job as local councillor to ensure all people (the pros, antis and undecideds) get their voice heard in the debate.  Residents of Stroud Green ‘voted’ against a CPZ a few years ago – and may well do again.   But I’m sure the CPZ debate is going to be re-ignite soon.

I was shocked to see this burnt out van on Mount View Road next to the covered reservoir, as I was delivering our Stroud Green FOCUS newsletter today.  I’m aware Mount View has become a bit of a dumping ground for trade vehicles and old cars because it is just outside the existing controlled parking zone – but this is worse than usual.

I’ve contacted the Council and asked them to urgently remove the van, and also alerted the local ’safer neighbourhoods’ police team.  Please contact me if you are concerned about any dumped vehicles in your area.