Richard Wilson

After years of promising a review of the Finsbury Park Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ), the Council have at last given in to pressure from councillors and residents and are consulting households inside and outside the current zone about what parking controls they want in the future. The consultation started a few weeks ago and ends this Friday (17 December). Anyone who lives in the current zone and on roads north (up to and including Ridge Road) should have received a questionnaire through the post from the Council. If you haven’t received this then you can download a copy of the questionnaire or complete an online version of the survey on the Council’s website.  There are different versions for people who live inside and outside the current CPZ.

It’s now around 5 years since residents were last consulted on parking and I would urge everyone, whether pro or anti CPZs, to have their say. Parking is the issue I get the most calls and emails about and I know how annoyed people are by the current problems and the Council’s failure to listen to residents’ concerns. I’ve been working hard to lobby Haringey Council to make sure this consultation is run better than last time and have helped set up a ‘focus group’ of local residents to work with parking officers to design the consultation questionnaire.

Along with my colleagues Ed Butcher and Katherine Reece, I will be scrutinising the proposals that are brought forward as a result of this consultation to make sure they really reflect the views expressed by residents. We strongly believe that CPZs should be there to help residents, not to raise money for the Council. Therefore it’s disappointing that the Council’s Labour leadership are proposing a big increase in the costs of CPZ parking permits next year (from £90 a year to £150 a year for the largest cars) – and we are pressing them to look again at these proposals.

Roads to the north of Ridge Road are not included in this current consultation. Residents from these roads have now started contacting us about parking concerns too, so we’ve pressed the Council to hold a further consultation in this area as soon as possible, but have been told spring next year is the earliest this can happen.

Katherine and I have helped launch a survey of local businesses to find out what support they need in today’s tough economic times.  The survey is going out to businesses across Haringey as part of the Lib Dem “Be Local” campaign to encourage residents to support local businesses and voluntary organisations – particularly over Christmas.

Katherine and I launched the survey in Weston Park in Stroud Green ward, speaking to a number of shopkeepers about the issues they face.   In Stroud Green sustaining and improving our local shopping parades is a big priority.  Weston Park has already been hit by the Labour Government closing the Post Office a few years ago.

And now our bigger shopping areas such as Crouch End Broadway face a new threat with Council plans to double pay-and-display parking charges for shoppers.  This charge hike risks an exodus of shoppers from our town centres to places like Brent Cross.  The increases are being put forward by the Council without any assessment on the impact on local town centres or discussion with traders.  Lib Dem councillors have called for the proposal to be reviewed, and have succeeded in calling a special council meeting to scrutinise the charges.

Great news for the many local residents who want action on parking: the consultation on whether the Finsbury Park Controlled Parking Zone should be extended north is due to to start on 19 November.  The consultation will extend as far north as Ridge Road, and including all the roads inbetween that are not already in the CPZ such as Mount View, Granville, Quernmore, Ferme Park, Stapleton Hall and Oakfield Roads.

This consultation is something Katherine, Ed and I have been pushing hard for – after we did a survey of residents which indicated many people in this area were now in favour of a CPZ.  I’ve helped the Council to recruit volunteers for focus group of local residents to help design the consultation questions, which was a very successful event.  There will be two separate consultation documents – one for people outside the CPZ asking if they would like it extended, and what hours they would like.  The other will go to everyone inside the existing CPZ asking if they would like the rules and hours of the zone changed.  Many residents are pushing for the CPZ to be divided into a smaller inner zone with long hours, and outer zones, with minimal hours.

This consultation will follow hot on the heels of the Crouch End CPZ consultation, which has been very high profile.  This consultation extended east from the centre of Crouch End as far as Ferme Park Road.  The results of this consultation will be available soon.

Roads that are north of Ridge Road and east of Ferme Park Road (Nelson, Inderwick, Mayfield, Denton, Uplands) are left out of both these consultations.  Understandably some residents here are concerned about the risk that parking pressures will soar if the CPZ boundary moves closer.  I’ve asked the Council how quickly a new consultation could be organised in these roads if residents demand it – and have been told that it could be possible in the 2011/12 financial year.

A further complication is that the Council are about to start a review of the costs of resident and visitor parking permits.  I’ve been told that proposals will go to the November cabinet.  I’ve written to the Labour cabinet member in charge of parking saying that a hike in charges will only heighten cynicism about the councils motives in extending CPZs, and should be avoided.  Parking controls should be there to help residents, not as backhand source of revenue for the Council – and we will scrutinise any proposals on charges to make sure they are fair.

Earlier this month I attended a meeting with the parking officers in charge of the review of the Finsbury Park Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ), and the new cabinet member in charge of parking Cllr Nilgun Canver.  The officers came armed with maps of the proposed consultation areas, which they’d drawn up following a previous meeting (see picture).

The full consultation with residents will happen in the Autumn, with residents inside the CPZ being asked if they still support the CPZ and whether they want the rules changed (different hours and different sub-zones within the CPZ). Residents outside will be asked if they want the CPZ extended, and what the hours of the extension should be.

It is proposed that the consultation will extend up to and including Ridge Road.  Roads to the north of Ridge Road would be notified about the consultation, but as there is no strong campaign for a CPZ in those roads the Council do not plan to include them in the formal consultation area.  There will be a simultaneous consultation on extending the Crouch End CPZ which will cover Ferme Park Road and and roads to the west.

Over the next few months the Council will be drawing up the consultation questions and finalising the consultation zones, and will be running focus groups of local residents from different roads to help them with this.  If you want to take part in the focus groups then please get in contact.

The process is very ponderous, and any changes or extensions to the CPZ will not be implemented till 2011.  However, these focus groups should hopefully mean that the consultation works better and that there is less criticism of the consultation process than last time.

The Lib Dem team for Stroud Green have launched our election pledges for the neighbourhood.  I joined Lynne Featherstone, Katherine Reece and Ed Butcher at the Stationers Park play fort (see picture) – to highlight our top three priorities for the ward.  Our top three pledges are:

• We will make sure the Finsbury Park Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) is reviewed, and that streets outside the CPZ can join if there is residents support.
• We will fight for measures to slow down traffic on Upper Tollington Park and to make the pedestrian crossing safer.
• We will make sure the Stationers Park Play Fort is replaced with an even better play area – ending years of broken promises from Labour.

Of course, there are a million other things we want to do, from improving our children’s centre to fixing our pothole problem, but speaking to residents – its the council’s failure to sort out these three problems that is causing the most frustration.  Residents are angry about the parking situation, want action on speeding traffic on Upper Tollington Park, and want an end to the years of broken promises on Stationers Park play fort.

I hope local residents will back these positive pledges to improve Stroud Green.

Great news – a long running campaign by local residents and councillors for a review of the Finsbury Park Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) is finally being acted on by the Council, who have at last agreed to put this in their 2010/11 work plan.  The review would include a parking consultation with residents who live outside the CPZ who are badly affected by displacement parking, as well as residents inside the Zone.  Last year we did a survey of residents in streets outside the Zone which got over 300 responses, and presented the results to the Council.  79% said parking had got worse and 61% said they now wanted the CPZ extended, and residents on some roads have put together petitions to demand action.
 
This is also great news for residents who live inside the existing CPZ who regularly complain about the rules, hours and enforcement of the parking controls.  It will also help residents who are angry about the boundary of the CPZ, with anomolies like the Oakfield Road bridge being included in the CPZ when there are no residents living on it.  Labour councillors have repeatedly promised reviews over the last 4 years, but these pledges have always been broken. 
 
The battle now is to hold the Council to this promise and to make sure the consultation is promptly and properly conducted, and is fair and considers all options.  As councillors our job is to make sure all views are heard, whether anti- or pro-CPZ.  Obviously we remain absolutely adamant that CPZs should purely be about helping solve residents parking problems, and not about raising money for the Council.  We will scrutinise any proposals to brought forward by the Council to ensure they stick to this principle.
 
Yesterday, along with councillor Lyn Weber from Crouch End ward, I met with the council officers in charge of parking to press for this review to  go ahead as soon as possible.

Yesterday, we presented Haringey Council will the final results of the Stroud Green Parking Survey.  We got a huge response with over 300 surveys completed either on the doorstep or online.

We started the survey because so many residents in the roads outside the existing Finsbury Park and Crouch End CPZs were contacting us to complain about parking (see post on launching the survey).  The key results were:

• 79% of residents believe that parking has got worse this year
• 61% of residents say they are now in favour of a CPZ , 32% are against a CPZ, and 7% stated no preference.
• 38% of residents say they used to be against having a CPZ but are now in favour.
• 58% of residents believe any CPZ should only operate for 2 hours .

These results demonstrate the urgent need for a proper Council consultation looking at the options for tackling parking problems.  We’ve written to the Haringey cabinet member in charge of parking demanding that he now holds this consultation - and a full review of the existing Finsbury Park CPZ.

As well as setting out residents’ views on CPZs, our letter also sets out other suggestions residents have made to reduce parking pressures, such as:

• Allowing residents who live just outside the CPZ boundary to buy permits to park inside.
• Allowing free parking on stretches of road where there are no houses, such as the Oakfield Road bridge or the covered reservoir.
• Providing dedicated van and truck parking (in appropriate places) for local residents who run vital ‘man and a van’ businesses.

The Council must listen to local residents on parking.