Richard Wilson

Ed, Laura and I have  launched our new Stroud Green parking and travel survey after testing it in a number of the roads in the area.   We’ve launched the door-to-door survey in response to the Council’s refusal to hold a consultation on parking issues – despite promising they would do so after the Crouch End CPZ was introduced.

The picture of me chatting to residents of Granville Road was taken by Ed on the first day we went out surveying together.  Several residents on Granville told us how a previous parking petition they had organised had been completely ignored by the Council.   But it seems people are still determined to have their voice heard and we’ve had a fantastic response to the survey on the roads we’ve done so far (though there are still many more places to do). 

Once we’ve surveyed all the roads we can, we will present the results to the Council to put pressure on them to take action.  However, we have also put in questions on issues such as streetcar, local buses and pedestrian issues – so it isn’t just parking problems that we want to hear about. 

Please do return the survey when we come to your road!

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’m really pleased that after years’ of nagging by some of my council colleagues, Haringey has at last agreed to let a car club to operate in the Borough.  Car clubs are a great alternative to car ownership, especially in an area like Stroud Green where there are pretty good public transport links.  In the long term they might reduce our acute parking problems.

Boroughs like Islington and Camden have had them for years.  In fact. my colleague Ed Butcher is a user of Streetcar already, because he lives so close to the border with Islington.  You can find out more about how they work at the Streetcar website.

The council are proposing to allow 6 cars to be parked in pairs at 3 sites in the ward.  They are:

• Denton Road, by the junction with Weston Park
• Stapleton Hall Road, by the junction with Quernmore Road
• Victoria Road, by the junction with Stapleton Hall Road

A number of residents have suggested that the Stapleton Hall Road site is not good due to the heavy parking pressures – and that the Oakfield Road bridge would be a better site as it is just inside the CPZ.  I have relayed that suggestion to the Council.

If you have any views on any of these locations then please contact me, or email the Council directly at  consultation {at} haringey.gov(.)uk before the consultation ends on 5 February.

Ever since I have been a councillor local residents have been asking for a review of the Finsbury Park Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) because it is not working as intended.  Some people living in roads near the station want an inner zone to stop people driving from the outer edges of the CPZ parking in their roads rather than walking to the tube.  Some other people  want the hours of the CPZ reduced to make it easier for visitors and workmen.  Lots of people want the Oakfield Road bridge taken out of the CPZ.

There has been no review of any of the rules or workings of the CPZ since it was introduced, and I think an investigation into these issues is well overdue.  Therefore, at Monday night’s full council I asked (not for the first time) the Cabinet Member in charge of parking Cllr Brian Haley to initiate a review of Finsbury Park CPZ.  The answer was no – he has no plans to have a review.

What is interesting, is the reason why I asked again is that last autumn I spoke to parking officers at Haringey Council and they told me they were “fed up” with all the complaints they were getting from residents about various aspects of the CPZ and had put in a report to Brian Haley recommending that the CPZ be reviewed.  So – its clear from his answer on Monday that Brian Haley has blocked this recommendation from officers.

A cynical person would think that as long as the CPZ revenue keeps rolling in, Brian Haley doesn’t really care about resident’s concerns.