Controlled parking zones (CPZs) have recently been extended to some Apostles Roads (as well as other nearby roads).

Following some correspondence with council officers, we have been offered the following explanation to how residents’ comments are taken into account when a controlled parking zone is being considered.

The Council will introduce parking controls in roads where the majority are in favour. The petition and many requests for controls came from [a number of roads in the Apostles and some in the Wimbledon Chase area]. If a statutory consultation were to be carried out in just these roads to allow them opportunity to be included in controlled parking it would seem these roads would’ve opted for the controls and therefore they would’ve been implemented as such.

As the Council know this would create parking displacement in adjacent roads it allows us the opportunity to consult all roads between the existing CPZ’s to notify residents of possible displacement and to opt for inclusion. A wider area cannot stop parking controls being introduced into road/s that are in favour.

As far as we can tell, this amounts to:

• if a CPZ is being considered in a road/roads near you, the Council may very well ask you your opinion (as you may be affected by what’s known as “displacement parking” – ie people parking on your road, because they can’t now park on a road that’s got a CPZ);
• however, if this is going to cause you problems, your comments will not stop the CPZ going ahead. It won’t  matter how many people actually want a CPZ nor how many people will be affected by it. For example, of 114 households on Chase Side and Rothesay Avenues, only 18 told the Council they wanted a CPZ. 13 households told the Council they did not. Both roads are now going to be part of a CPZ, and comments from residents on Oxford Avenue worried about the affect on parking on their road are ignored (ie “A wider area cannot stop parking controls being introduced into road/s that are in favour.”) Oxford Avenue residents had initially rejected a CPZ during an “informal” consultation.
• They will be quite happy though, for you to call for your road to get a CPZ too.

Parking and congestion is a big issue for many. In our opinion, a top down “council knows best” system isn’t practical or fair – and a piecemeal “every road for itself” approach will benefit nobody in the long term.