wmorrisparking

WHAT NEXT.....

2010-03-08T09:34:00.001-08:00

Please click on the comment link below this post for more info.
Still can't paste into a post.
Best wishes,
A

From John

2010-02-22T09:39:00.000-08:00

Please see comment below. It is important and I promised to post if but I cannot for the life of me work out how to paste into a fullpost - but managed to do so into a Comment. Any advice appreciated on that technical problem!

Contact from Ray

2010-02-21T05:40:00.000-08:00

Dear all, I'm pleased to say that a Winns Ave resident, Ray has been in touch.
Please do check out his comments, my response and hopefully soon his response to that, in the comments at the bottom of the post called "Leaflets along Winns Ave" a couple down from this one.
Best wishes,
Andrea

Leaflet from Vincent and Roy

2010-02-20T01:14:00.000-08:00

While I'm not going to get into a slanging match on these issues, all residents are within their rights to express their opinions, I'd like to address a couple of things in the leaflet that I'm sure many of you received last night like I did.

Firstly the WMCPAG did not request the consultation/reconsultation. Back in March last year we presented the difficult issues that residents were facing due to the CPZ imposition to the Council and asked for a discussion as to how these could be addressed. These were issues faced by those within the zone as well as outside. The Council said they would get back to us in 3 weeks with ideas, they didn't - in September last year this consultation plan was presented to us as a done deal, no discussion. It was not what we wanted at all, but the Council went ahead anyway.

The re/consultation is being done because individual residents complained. These included residents from Winns Ave (yes including me, as an individual not on behalf of the group), Badlis Road, and Diana Road as well as those from outside the zones. Also I was not the only resident of Winns Ave to not receive the original consultation documents and therefore was not allowed my say. And those who did get the opportunity to vote, voted against being in the zone.

I began this blog as a personal blog back in March last year - a resident of Winns Ave who was not at all happy about the CPZ. It is not fair to say that the WMCPAG is solely people from outside the zone, I've met many unhappy Winns Ave residents over the last year.

While I'm sure Roy and Vincent do truly believe what they wrote, I'm afraid they are wrong on some of the issues they raise - and the Council have acknowledged all of the above, so I'm not sure what complaints about the group would be for or about, to be honest. Anyway. I'll take another read of their leaflet when I get home and respond properly.
Best wishes all,
Andrea (winns ave)

Leaflets along Winns Ave

2010-02-19T14:36:00.000-08:00

Dropped some leaflets along Winns Ave this evening and counted the cars as I went, just a random Friday evening - I left the house at 9pm.

In the LP zone there were 20 (out of 32 capacity, 62% occupancy) cars, from LP down to Holmes Road there were 40 cars (out of 77 capacity, just 52% full). From Holmes to Priory Court were 15 cars and from Priory Court to the end there were 19 ( 34/88 capacity - only 38% full). That is a total of 94 cars on a road that can house 197 cars. Wow, hadn't done the maths till just now....that is under 48% occupancy. That is 52% of the spaces free - spaces that our families and friends could use to visit us this weekend, but we would have to pay £8.40 per car per weekend for that.....

I'd like to apologise to John who sent me an email to post for him, but my new computer isn't letting me do it. I'll sort out my word application and get onto it this weekend.

Most frustratingly the flyposting continues unabated and it seems our lawbreaking friend has become aggressive and offensive. Having seen the emails he sends and heard the way that his own neighbours talk about him, I think it is clear the man is a patronising bully. Normally I wouldn't post something this unpleasant about someone, but since we haven't named him I think it is only fair. And we imagine he reads this - so hello there, welcome, please feel free to comment, but remember NO SHOUTING.
Best wishes all (but one;)
Andrea

Vote Now!!

2010-02-18T14:59:00.000-08:00

Hello all,
Please do remember to vote! I only got round to it yesterday, too much time removing illegal flyposters and almost forgot!
On the flyposting issue, just FYI I asked the council to look again at this activity, they are going up about twice a day. Please take them down if you see them, it is an illegal activity and it is essentially vandalism. We have stuck to legal and responsible methods. Our local corner shop has been taking these posters down too, they have even been put up on his shop! Outrageous.
We will be leafletting Winns Ave tomorrow/early weekend to encourage people to vote and to put forward some information the the Council hasn't passed on. We will have put leaflets through a couple of thousand doors when this has been done, thanks to everyone who has given up their time and facilities to help achieve this.
Best wishes,
A

Flyposters

2010-02-14T04:15:00.000-08:00

Dear all,
Someone has been posting leaflets over the official council notices informing residents that a consultation is taking place. We reported it on Friday morning, but they were still there Friday night. I removed as many as I could see and they were reposted yesterday. Just as a reminder - this time last year our group attached a few laminates to lampposts to inform residents about our group - we were reported and they were taken down overnight. We didn't know it wasn't allowed (there are lost pet / missing posters and community notices on our lamposts all the time and they are not removed). However, since then we have not repeated this action. My point is that when perfectly sensible community notices are put up (but imply residents might like to meet up about a community issue) the council took immediate action. Nothing was done about defacing the council notices with leaflets in favour of 7 day a week restrictions. I'll leave you to your own conclusions.
Best wishes,

2010-02-10T14:24:00.000-08:00

Dear all,
Quick update on the issues people are raising with us. Having leafletted a large area people are kindly copying us in on emails to the council and approaching us with questions. We will answer them if we can, but do encourage you to contact the council as they can answer with authority - we can only tell you what the council has said previously (sometimes contradictory), information they have given us, council minutes we have etc. They need to know your concerns, any confussions or outright objections. They reluctantly met with us on 2 occasions in the last 14 months, they ignored our suggestions on how to make the system/questionnaires simpler and more transparent, hence the mess we are in. They aren't interested in our opinion as a group - so be persistent and get answers!

Issues raised in the last few days:
Chingford Road/Brettenham Road. A resident contacted us asking how commuters could possibly be responsible for the parking troubles in the evenings near the junction of Chingford and Brettenham and suggested it was actually the residents of Chingford Road (where there are few spaces currently) parking in Brettenham that are causing the issues there. One of the problems with parking zones is that they reduce the number of parking spaces, the other is that all roads in the zone can park anywhere in the zone, it isn't road by road. Looking at the map distributed with the pack it appears there are very very few spaces allocated on Chingford Road in that area. If Chingford and Brettenham are included in the new zone there is nothing to stop Chingford Rd residents continuing to park in Brettenham Road, everyone will just pay for the priviledge - and there will be fewer spaces on Brettenham to boot. Again a note on number of spaces - the council has not taken into account lamp posts, trees or other obstructions that will prevent parking , or make it difficult, reducing spaces further.

Missing consultation packs - so far 5 residents have copied us in on emails to the council requesting consultation packs that never arrived.

Cost of Zone - a resident of Badlis Road copied us in on a mail outlining that she wanted the option of 5 days a week 2 hours a day, like the options on the new zone consultation. She calculated that she had spent £200 on permits in the last year and that the inconvenience of 1, 2 and 5 hour scratchcards was unbearable. Before the inclusion of Winns Ave (against residents will) her visitors had parked there, causing no congestion in the area because Winns Ave was an effective buffer, with plenty of space especially at weekends when visitors come. After the inclusion of Winns Ave and Diana Road she was forced to pay for visitor permits (while Winns Ave sits nearly empty) and the costs are very high.
We weren't allowed to see the draft of the LP consultation and would have asked for the same options as for the new zone. We asked for this for the Winns Ave consultation - so that Winns Ave could be included in which ever zone most closely matched its wishes - we were ignored.

More people have emailed us about how unsatisfactory the public Drop In's were and why not put in complaints to the Council if you feel the same.

Leaflets in LP - a resident of Winns Terrace has distributed his thoughts to some homes in the LP zone. He states that the council is trying to turn LP into a carpark to service the newly (soon to be) renovated park. Clearly this is what he believes, but how does that add up when the council is actually trying to completely surround the park with a CPZ in this consultation? Residents of Winns Ave, Diana Road and Badlis Road all complained to the council about having the strictest restrictions in the Borough.
As a note as well, Winns Terrace is an incredibly underutilised road - according to council statistics and also, just as a random sample I have counted the cars on it on my way home the last few days. Please bear in mind that the Council states there are bays for 66 cars. On Monday at 21:25 (after restrictions end at 21:00) there were 22 cars, yesterday Tuesday just minutes after midnight there were 25 cars, today at 21:10 there were 24 cars. One third full.

Sorry for the random useless posts below - I tried up upload copies of our leaflets and the one another resident (of Winns Terrace) distributed to some homes in LP for you to take a look at. It didn't work, but I will try again:)

We also know that various residents are starting petitions, that at least 2 residents have been distributing leaflets against the zone/consultation independantly of us. I think the level of activity shows how strong a reaction this has provoked. We know some people are passionately in favour, and that of course is fine too, and you are welcome to post - but note that the comments are moderated and we have a few guidelines for you. Please be polite, no personal attacks, NO SHOUTING and no bad words.
Goodnight for now.

2010-02-10T03:18:00.001-08:00

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Consultation underway....

2010-02-07T13:28:00.000-08:00

Hello all sorry for the silence, lots has been going on as you can imagine.

Firstly thanks to everyone who has been in touch. We have now been contacted by people from right around the proposed (and the existing) zones. Marten Road, Douglas Ave, Penrhyn etc many people having been totally caught out by the consultation dropping through the door and having just 3 weeks to respond or even work through the issues with neighbours and figure out what is best for them.

I'm attaching a link to another blog that a resident has started (hello!), I think it would be good if we all take a look at both, as we will no doubt come across different issues.

The DROP IN's
Have been quite a hot topic with residents reporting fury at the one on wednesday, with no councillors in attendance and apparently Tom Wright claiming that the residents of Winns Ave wanted the zone they are in, hence the problems for everyone else. Now we all know that the Winns Ave residents voted convincingly against being included and it was a unilateral decision by Mr Belam that went against the consultation results, so this is a worrying turn of events - complete misinformation. If anyone has anything to report from teh Saturday meeting it would be great to hear your thoughts.

Various residents are proposing petitions, leaflets, some posters went up on lampposts too, but they were taken down by the Council. It would be great if you would all act on these ideas - the Council has started pointing people in our direction when they ask difficult questions that they don't want to answer. I'd like to encourage you to hassle the Council for information - it is the Councils job to listen to us, we elect them and pay our taxes. We are very pleased to hear from you, but don't let the Council fob you off with "get in touch with them", get annoyed and get answers!

They didn't listen to any of our feedback about these consultations, they didn't let us see a draft for the LP zone (which gives few options and doesn't reflect the prefered results from WinnsA and Diana Rd when they were consulted in 2008). They didn't even inform us when it was going to take place (though they managed to tell other resident groups). The only way we will get any joy is to get residents to get involved and vote and use the comments boxes, to call, email and write letters to the Council and hopefully get the local press involved.

I'm trying to attach a text only copy of the leaflet we have been putting through doors (or will upload a picture of it), so that residents in other areas can see what information we are passing around. Do feel free to copy, print and distribute where you are. And please let us know if you find people who haven't had the consultation pack through - just FYI I had a complaint against the council partially upheld, and only partially because the Council kept such poor records, because not all residents (4 including me that I know of on Winns Ave alone) simply did not get the pack through their door. I have had 2 emails so far this time saying the same thing - so please do let us know.

There is lots more to be said but for now we have to get on with writing to LP and WA zone residents (on the W side of the park, if anyone is interested in sorting the E side let me know).
Best wishes all - and Lorna, thank you for getting in touch about Penrhyn Hall, a worrying story and one to add to our list. Are you are in touch with the Council and petitioning users of the hall? I would also contact the local Guardian newspaper - it is an important local news story.
Andrea

Anyone seen the consultation?

2010-01-24T08:12:00.000-08:00

Hello and Happy New Year.
No news as such to report from the Council. We received a response from Councillor Macklin to our feedback after the meeting. It was garbled, badly spelt, took no notice of our points, quibbled over not being invited to our residents meeting (we aren't invited to their meetings about the CPZs and they are making decisions about our lives!), in short it was a rant and we didn't think it worth a response. He copied in his fellow Councillors and personally I hope he is embarassed about that communication, as it was a deeply unprofessional response to a perfectly civil email from a community group.

A member of Friends of Lloyd Park forwarded us a message that had been sent around their email group. I thought I'd copy some of this text here as it is relevant to our concerns... (hmmm it appears that I can't paste the mail - I'll post this and try and figure it out.) The gist is that visitor numbers to the park and the various facilities and clubs are down and that one of the criterion of the lottery grant is increasing visitor numbers (the only park for miles). There was concern that the park will only be usable by those who live nearby, are able to walk (or my addition are lucky enough to live on a direct bus route and are able to use it). Another point is that Friends of Lloyd Park seem to have been told dates for the consultation, which is really useful (and worth noting that the Council have not told us this information, even though they are very familiar with us). Looks like the end of consultation is te 19th Feb.
If anyone gets the document through their door, it would be great to know when the consultation starts - though I'll email and ask the direct question today.
Best wishes all:)
Andrea

Summary for new joiners

2009-12-06T10:36:00.000-08:00

Hello All, The Council has announced a new plan re: the parking situation in the area. If you would like to see more of the whole story, please do scroll to the bottom of this page and click on older posts and work your way back to the beginning. However in summary...

We had a residents meeting last week and the outcome was that many residents wanted to write to the Council to voice their concern about the proposal and how the consultation is taking place. They asked for a list of contacts and a summary of the points we discussed.
In short the Council plan, very shortly, to conduct 3 different neighbouring consultations simultaneously.

They will ask the current Lloyd Park (LP) zone to the west of the Park if they want to change the days and hours of their current zone. This is in response to complaints from those roads about the 7 day a week, 13 hour a day restrictions imposed.
They will ask Winns Ave if they want to be removed from the current zones they are in. The section of Winns Ave that is in the LP will also be asked what hours they would prefer as above.
The results and effects of any changes made will not be known as...
They will simultaneously be asking a large area to the North of Winns Ave (back to Billet Road) if they want a new zone put in place.
The consensus at the meeting was that the introduction of the LP and Winns Ave Zones caused many of the problems residents now face to the north and that changes to these zones could significantly alleviate those problems. For example if Winns Ave votes out and LP votes for 5 days a week for limited hours, this would free up an enormous number of parking spaces and potentially returning the neighbouring roads to the situation before the zone, without the cost and inconvenience of imposing a new zone.

We wrote back to the Council about the concerns about the process of the new consultation at the recent meeting and suggesting some changes to the draft we were sent. To date neither Cllr Belam not Tom Wright from his office has replied, though we did have a response from Cllr Macklin which was largely unhelpful and confused. For example, in response to our statements of concern that residents raised he asked why we kept asking questions. We weren't, we were telling them what was discussed at the meeting. It makes it difficult to send him a helpful response. Will let you know when we hear from the relevant people.

Best wishes,

Andrea

Post meeting

2009-11-20T04:48:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,
Great to see so many people there last night, I counted over 50 a great turn out at really late notice.

I'm putting together an email with the information and contacts people wanted, which I'll send over the weekend, so that anyone who is concerned can write to the appropriate people. It was heartening so many people asked for that information.

Thanks again, you'll be hearing from us soon and I'll post again soon too.
Best wishes,
Andrea

reminder:meeting tomorrow (Thursday)

2009-11-18T14:28:00.000-08:00

just a quick reminder for those of you interested,the next meeting is held tomorrow (Thursday) at 07:00pm at the Lloyd Park Children's Centre.
The aim is to discuss the council's latest proposal's for arranging car parking in the area.

All welcome.

thanks John,Nick,Andrea and everyone who has helped distribute reminder leaflets around the area.

PS.

2009-11-11T14:28:00.000-08:00

The Lloyd Park Centre, which provides lots of valuable services to the local community, kindly agreed to let me stick up a copy of an email that was written to the council (and cc'd to some of us concerned about parking in the area) to illustrate the problems caused to the centre by the current parking arrangements.

For those who are interested in the issues of parking in the Lloyd Park area; I would like to share with you some recent data that illustrates the impact of the CPZ.
Comparing data about The Lloyd Park Centre's services and activities from the last quarter (July - Sept) against the same period in 2008 found the following:
1) The centre's reach was down by 272 people and,
2) The volume of users over that period was down by 514 people.
Through both periods when this data was collected the centre provided roughly the same services and activities with the same opening hours and number of staff. We continue to receive numerous complaints about the CPZ especially for families with more than one under 5, very young babies, or those who are accessing the centre after daylight hours. I would like to acknowledge and appreciate the problems facing local residents; however the solution to the problems created by the CPZ should consider the needs of the whole community. I would be interested to hear your thoughts about this and would appreciate any comments or advice.

Re consultation news...

2009-11-11T13:55:00.000-08:00

Hello,
Some of you may have heard the latest on the reconsultation. 3 of us had the draft delivered on a Friday night by hand with a cover letter asking for feedback by the 30th of October (that days date). On the Monday 1st Nov when the council was next back at work, we asked what the real deadline was and were told the 2nd Nov. So that's 24 hours notice of the deadline.

If the council had told us when we were going to get the documents we could have arranged a meeting for the Monday and given them considered feedback, from the community on the date requested, but they don't seem keen on giving us information as we know.

I sent back my thoughts on the process, (basically outlined below, as in an email sent on the 23rd Sept to which I have still to receive a response from Cllr Belam) and on the wording. There are 3 or 4 documents that will be used depending on where you live.

The Winns Ave questionnaire was far from satisfactory, it asked if we wanted in or out and that was about it. No option to express what days or hours we wanted if it was to remain (we could be included in the N extension if our opinions more closely matched those residents preferences, rather than being left as we are in a zone we didn't want to be in with the hours being the ones least people on the road voted for in LP and the second least popular in the WA section). If the area to the north votes in favour we, on Winns Ave, will be included whether we want it or not and as the document was written we wouldn't have a vote on what those hours would be.

My arguement has always been that we shouldn't have been included first time round as there was no problem and residents didn't want it, we were the end of the zone and so could easily have not been included. Our road is now half empty all the time (according to their own traffic survey) and I have no doubt that we were a buffer that has now been removed, exacerbating the problems outside the zone. But they won't listen, or consult on Winns Ave first and let residents see the changes in surrounding roads if we vote ourselves out. They just want to extend and extend, £££££££££££££££.

The other documents are just as confused, lots of if this road votes this you will be included too, bear in mind this might happen, that might happen, basically I found the documents and the way this has been handled very manipulative.

We even had an email, when we complained that we had no time to talk to residents, implying that it was residents fault, that we delayed the meeting with the council. Just for clarification, we met them in March, they carried out the surveys in March and April (it was only 2 days btw)and then suggested meeting with us in peak holiday weeks in August. We asked for a delay of 3 weeks so that people could attend, they have been delaying for MONTHS. Sorry to shout but honestly, they aren't fooling anyone. I have to say that my first letter (december last year) to the council about this was civil, helpful, had suggestions and and a positive tone. The disregard for common sense, logic, transparency and to be honest an assumption that we, the residents, are stupid is incredible and today I have honestly lost respect for the Council and council officers in particular.

Anyway you should also have received an email inviting you to a group meeting to discuss everything and what response people would like to make.
Phew sorry for a long and ranty one, I will try and check in more regularly and look at any comments/posts that get made.
Hope all are well
Andrea

update....

2009-10-16T09:18:00.000-07:00

Dear all, another quick update (again sorry for my absence! comments now moderated!). Just received word that in 1 week we will be able to see the consultation document, before it goes to to print - I will try and get the gist of it up on here asap. There's little more to report other than the wheels grind very slowly.

I wrote to the counsellors outlining my objections to the way that the new consultation will be carried out (in short they won't remove winns ave from the existing zone - or even consult on that - before consulting the whole area, so yet again residents won't have the full information to make the right choice and Winns Ave will not have the option of not being in any zone (we voted against last time and they included us anyway, they could just as easily have made the zones end at the end of the ladder roads leaving WA as the buffer it always was) So the upshot is chaos caused, more residents inconvenienced and a larger zone to rake in the cash. When I commented that the council were using parking as a revenue scheme, there was silence, followed by a denial and an explanation that clearly showed that they use parking as an income generator. Everyone round the table heard it.

In addition to prompting the council for the draft and for the detailed data I mentioned, which several weeks on has not been forthcoming, all I can say is frustration and idiocy reign.

I have received a response to my stage two complaint, partially upholding some of my points - that the original consultation was carried out badly (I know of 4 households on winns ave who did not receive the document) and that counsellors haven't responded appropriately to my correspondance. I am going to take it to the local government ombudsman anyway as I don't agree with other findings. Anyone else got any news on their complaints?

There was a question in one of the comments that I'll go back and try and answer now.
Best wishes
Andrea

NEWS FROM THE COUNCIL MEETING

2009-09-20T02:36:00.000-07:00

This is a really important post for anyone interested in what is going on and what is about to happen. We met with the council and this is what happened.

THE RESEARCH
The council finally let us know what they have done since the last meeting in March. They carried out some survey work, of occupancy of the roads in the area at different times of the day (a Tuesday and a Saturday).

They took note of vehicle licence numbers only in order to see who had stayed over night and was back that evening (residents they are assuming), who had come to park during the day ("visitors" or commuters) and not so that they could check DVLA records which is what we had been told.

I have a copy of the occupancy maps, which were colour coded by road, under 70percent occupancy, 71 to 80, 81 to 95 percent and over 95 percent. It makes for interesting reading and I'm happy to send people the occupancy numbers for their road if they would like to know. I'd scan it but it is massive, if you would like to see it I can bring it round.

A brief summary is that they surveyed on 2 days at 5am, 12:00 and 19:00 on a Tuesday and a Saturday.
Carr and Fleeming take the brunt of the problems the new extension has created with Elphinstone too suffering and roads out towards the Billet roundabout also above 95percent overnight. Whether these roads have problems related to the extension, which is pretty far from them is another question. During the day on the Tuesday they surveyed Carr and Fleeming are at least 81 to 90 percent occupied, with Fleeming hitting over 95 percent at 1900 on the Tuesday but not at weekends.

Winns Ave (in the extension, having voted against it) was under 70 percent occupied the whole time except for one small stretch in the LP zone, which went into the 71 to 80 bracket for the 5am time. There is a relevant point coming up regarding the other roads in the LP zone. (I have asked for the actual figures as, as a resident I know that often it is under 40 percent occupied and this is an important point). Either way it shows that Winns Ave is half empty during the week and at weekends.

WHAT THEY ARE PROPOSING
There were 3 main points they raised (and I'll outline my opinion in the next post as I think there is a fundemental flaw)

1. They have had complaints from residents of Diana Road at the length of the restrictions imposed, saying that weekends etc are overkill. We have had residents from Badlis Road come to us and say the same thing, even though their restrictions are longstanding. The council are proposing to re consult Diana, Badlis and Winns Terrace about the hours of their restrictions. They will be given the options of reducing the days and hours of the restrictions, but not the option to remove them. They also already intended to put pay and display metres in Winns Terrace, they seem aware of the great under utility of the road there.

2. The area to the West of Diana road between Winns Ave and Forest Road (though not including Winns Ave) will be left as it is and not reconsulted. That's Mersey and the rest of the perpendicular roads currently in the WA zone.

3. Winns Ave will be reconsulted and offered the option of removing the restrictions all together, and if they decide they do want it what hours would they like. In the previous consultation Winns Ave voted firmly against and when forced to make a choice on hours went for the least restrictive options. It is now half empty and has restrictions 6 or 7 days a week over very long hours. In addition they have had complaints from Winns residents. For all of these reasons they are being given the option to remove the restriction all together.

4. They will consult the area North of Winns Ave up to the roundabout if they want restrictions too. They do not want to include the option of weekend restrictions as evenings are the main problem and 7 day a week restrictions cause complaints and distruption for all sorts of reasons.

In addition to this it became clear that a couple of residents in Carr would vote differently depending on the outcome of the reconsultation in the current zone. And so we asked that the Winns Ave restrictions be abandoned so that residents of surrounding streets could see the level of improvement. They said this wasn't possible.

I suggested doing the Winns Ave and LP zone reconsultation first (a very small area compared to what they are proposing to consult and the only bit that is legally time dependant), making any changes so that residents could be fully informed and see the outcome before consulting for a further extension to the north. They said this wasn't possible. And so agreed that a question could be added to the consultation so that "if Winns Ave vote against" and "if Winns Ave vote in favour" could be taken into account.

Personally I think there is an enormous flaw in this now I have had a chance to think about it, if the council had let us know what we were going to be discussing in advance it could have been sorted out at the meeting I'm sure. More on that in the next post.

So that is how it currently stands and they are looking at reconsulting at the end of Oct as legally they have to make modifications to the Experimental Zone within a year of bringing it in and that is rapidly approaching.

Thoughts appreciated. (If I have missed anything / mixed anything from the meeting, do let me know!)
Best wishes
Andrea

Update

2009-09-17T13:14:00.000-07:00

Dear all, I'm sorry for my prolonged absence and for the comments that consequently have only just been made public as they were unmoderated. All up now.

This evening some of us went to the council meeting that Lorna mentioned in the previous post. It was an interesting meeting and there is much to report. I'll be updating this again at the weekend, there is quite a lot to mention and I want to make sure I get it right! (residents of Mersey road, don't worry nothing will change for you, nobody was trying to get rid of the scheme, just make it usable, acceptable, more convenient and cost effective so that more people were happy.)
I'll post more at the weekend.
Best wishes
Andrea

next meeting date

2009-08-21T14:48:00.000-07:00

It's proposed that WMCPAG should meet again on 15 September at 7::30 pm at the Lloyd Park Centre before again meeting with the Council on 17 September.Any residents are welcome to attend this if you would like to get involved.

This seems the most popular date for everyone,its also the date for the next William Morris Ward Panel meeting and unfortunately I an highly unlikely to be able to attend either due to work.

interesting newspaper article

2009-08-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

this was from The Yellow Advertiser on 18th June 2009-I hope its ok to post it here.It makes very intersting reading for those residents who rely on carers or who are carers.

Lorna's story

2009-07-26T12:08:00.000-07:00

I think it would be a fab idea if we could get a selection of residents to post their stories on here,you can email us or leave a comment and we'll make it into a post.

I live on Fleeming road,and in the 8 years or so I've lived here this is the worst the parking has ever been-obviously it has got busier over the years but the dramatic increase in vehicles parked on Fleeming when the CPZ was my first warning of the CPZ been introduced.

Parking could always sometimes be tricky,but I could usually always park in my own road if I came back from work before midnight and as a shift worker,I return home at various times,so I think I can say with some accuracy that the parking is at best difficult at anytime of the day now,even returning from supermarket shopping during the day its nearly always impossible to park anywhere near my home.And returning from work in the early hours usually means I have to park in Elphinstone or Pennant Terrace (sorry residents!)-just what I need after a 16 hour shift!

I have also noticed an increase in commercial vans parked in the road,and cars that are parked in the same spot for weeks on end,leaving the residents not able to move their cars into view of their flats.This is important to me as my car was broken into recently,and I feel that this may have been due to the fact it was parked out of my sight-before CPZ I always parked or moved my car to outside my flat for security,and my neighbours knew it was my car if there were any problems.
For me the answer would be to get rid of the CPZ-you only have to look at Winns Avenue to see how few people park there,I am sure that many of those residents park in Carr and Fleeming roads,and I dont blame them with the price of the permits!Why should the people who live in Carr/Fleeming and Elphinstone be so disadvantaged by a CPZ that it seems the few voted for?Why arent CPZ permits free per household anyway-and charge the people who drive in to work in the area to park instead,as far as I can see this is a pure money making scheme,if it was only to solve the parking problem surely the permits would be free?

Winns Photos explanation

2009-07-26T08:36:00.000-07:00

Just quickly, the top 2 are Tues 14th, the next 2 down are Weds 15th and the last 2 are today Sunday 26th. I can't get back in to edit it so they line up properly with the captions. Sorry :)

Some more photos for you....of Winns Ave

2009-07-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

Tuesday the 14th July 9 cars between the Park and Fleeming at 7 in the morning

Wednesday 15th July 11 cars between the Park and Fleeming 8pm

Sunday 26 th July 7 cars between the Park and Fleeming mid afternoon

From Traci

2009-07-26T08:12:00.000-07:00

Being on Carr Road, we are also victims of the zoned parking overflow. Even the delivery people complain. It feels like we have all the second cars people don't want to bother with permits for on our street. We finally solved our problem by selling our car, but that's a luxury many people can't afford.

2009-07-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

From Sandy, sorry I couldn't copy the clever pictures!

HI
Our house pay for permit parking because it lets us park close to our house which helps as both of us have health problems and accept that to do this will cost us each year.
I understand the frustration many residents feel about permit parking and they way it pushes those that don't have or will not pay for a permit to move to non permit streets. For years we suffered from that very problem and even asked the council if we could pay for permit parking on a near by street to which they said no. If permit parking was removed from our street then we would once again be forced to park up the side streets taking one of the locals parking space. It seems that no matter what way this is viewed, someone will lose out. I also accept though, that permit parking is part of living in a big city like London and not likely to change.

Fiona's story

2009-07-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

Fiona,I thought I would post your email as is.

I’m sorry to hear the new parking restrictions have been causing such problems.

You may not want to hear this, but I wanted to say that I voted in favour of the parking restrictions, as it had become impossible to park on my street (I’m now it the LP zone), or anywhere near my street. Coming back from the car with shopping and a small child was impossible. I’ve lived in my flat for 6 years and there never used to be a problem, but probably in the last year or so parking had become a real headache. Apparently parking restrictions were introduced the other side of Forest Road, which pushed more cars on to our and neighbouring roads. It seems that the same problem has now been pushed onto the area outside the new zone.

Clearly the new parking restrictions have caused problems for others – for us, personally, it’s been a dramatic improvement, as we can now park outside our flat - and we need to find a solution for this. It seems to me that parking for the wider area needs to be assessed – there’s no point getting rid of the new parking zone, unless you do the same for the one the other side of Forest Road (and potentially the one next to them, which is presumably why they needed one). Hopefully there are some transport and planning experts around which can help with this.

On the positive side, I see that a carshare scheme has just been introduced in Waltham Forest. This may mean that some local people will not buy a car, but use the car share instead, which should relieve some of the parking pressure.

It would be good to know what you are campaigning for i.e. what do you want the Council to do about it? Apologies if this is on the site, but I couldn’t find it.

Many thanks and best of luck.

Fiona

It's not just the shop owners at the park....

2009-07-22T13:57:00.001-07:00

Hello All,
I went out this evening and posted a few leaflets through the doors of the LP section of Winns Ave down to the shop at Mersey Road. And on the windscreens of cars with visitor permits in.

The lovely chap who runs the shop on the corner of Mersey (and I'll be taking him laminates in the morning) this very day got a ticket while on business in the shop (on top of what they pay for the bay) and he told me of a Mersey resident, with a permit, who has been clamped (thats over £250 apparently, which I was amazed by the council are raking it in). He had made the mistake of parking in the shops bay, on Mersey Road. Not that the shop owner minded, but rules are of course rules.

I'll try and do another stretch tomorrow night and I'll post any stories here. Enjoying talking to the shop owners, what a lovely bunch:)
Best wishes,
Andrea

PS I received a reply to my email to Bob Belam! 3rd time lucky. No sign that he had actually read the email, but progress nontheless.

2009-07-22T04:19:00.001-07:00

Hi Fiona, you are very welcome to post on here the more the merrier.

All WMparking is about is finding out what the issues are and trying to work out an equitable way forward. We aren't campaigning for anything in particular, just for the council to take account of all views (Winns Ave LP voted against for eg.) and to work out something that works better than it does currently for a lot of people in and around the zone.

My issue for example is that I too live in the LP zone and it is desperately inconvenient and costly - I don't own a car and it'll cost me £156 a year for my boyfriend and family to visit occasionally when it only costs £45 for a car owner to park all year round. I don't think that non-car owning resident are being treated fairly and am shocked at how few cars there are on Winns Ave at the weekends. Others on Winns Ave have relatives come for daily childcare, medical care and it is costing them a fortune. So my particular bug bear is I think that if you don't have a car you should be able to have a transferable permit (allocated to your address) for the same cost as a car owner, to have the convenience and cost effectiveness that car owners have.

Others (from the surrounding roads who were not even consulted) have the issues of crowding you mention along with many others, arguements between neighbours, an increase in car crime, impossible deliveries etc. So that is what we are about - and we welcome those in favour too! - we are about trying to find a better way forward for everyone.

Welcome! (and if you would like to post, just say and I can "invite you" and you can post rather than comment:)
Best wishes,
Andrea

WMCPAG needs YOU!!

2009-07-20T11:55:00.000-07:00

Hopefully you will be reading this as a result of recieving a flyer that was distributed over the weekend,if so-welcome!
A laminated poster for residents to fix to their gate or show in their window is in the process of being produced by WMCPAG and we particulary would like to hear from residents in Fleeming and Elphinstone roads and Winns Avenue as we are short of WMCPAG contacts in those roads to help with distributing and displaying the posters.
If you are interested in helping or would like to attend any future meetings,then please leave a comment or send an email to wmorrisparking@btinternet.com-you can be involved as little or as much as you feel comfortable with and this is your chance to voice your concerns at the negative affect that the CPZ has on WM residents.

William Morris Ward Panel results

2009-07-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

Myself,Andrea and Nick attended the William Morris Ward Panel meeting on Tuesday and I thought I would post the analysis of the 3 priorities as set by the Ward Panel from the SNT,as you can see not all of it is strictly relevant to WMCPAG,but as we are all residents it may be of interest to you anyway.

The SNT were very helpful in answering the questions we had and it was worth going to obtain information,even if it was an 'experience'!I think it was John at the WMCPAG who mentioned that the council were checking the number plates of cars parked in and around Fleeming road,Carr road and Elphinstone road and I asked this at the meeting and realised pretty quickly that the councillors were very protective of their methods.I asked on what authority they checked the numbers to obtain information and how was it a reasonable use of that authority?The answer I was given was that they were checking where the car owners lived-was it in the area or outside etc,which to me was not a reasonable excuse to access private information,especially as its not actually an offence/parking offence to park in these roads,regardless of how annoying and frustrating it is!This would have made more sense at the deciding stage of the CPZ rather than now in my opinion.

The SNT said that the kind of car crime they were seeing was surprisingly theft of number plates and theft from cars rather than theft of car and that had increased in the time the CPZ had been in force,whether this was due to crime being condensed because of the sheer numbers of cars attracting thieves to the said roads or for other reasons they weren't totally sure,but we all agreed that it may also be that people arent moving their cars for longer periods now and they are also parking them out of sight rather than being able to park or move their cars to outside their homes so that it was in sight or in neighbours sight.They also mentioned that they were planning on holding a vehicle crime awareness van (sorry I cant recall all the details) soon in Lloyd Park-I'll post details on here when I have them.
I hope this isn't going off topic but I do think its a symptom of the hated CPZ!

The next Ward Panel meeting is to be held on 15th September 2009 at The William Morris Community Centre on Greenleaf road (Hoe st end) and anyone who is resident in the area is welcome to attend.

William Morris Ward Panel results

2009-07-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

From Nick - a comment that deserves a proper post!

2009-07-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

From Nick
Dear All,
A serious question to be answered, 'was due process followed' during the implementation of the CPZ on Winns Avenue?
Well, it seems NOT!

Firstly, I have it on spoken authority (and from email communications) that the report of the consultation response was not passed to William Morris Ward Councillors for final viewing before being approved and signed off by Councillor holding the Environment Portfolio.

In addition, the initial results of the consultation revealed that only four replies were received from the residents of Winns Avenue; 3 of these replies said NO to the CPZ and 1 said YES. The entries for residents that did not reply to the consultation were taken as an AUTOMATIC YES vote!

In addition it seems that not all residents of Winns Avenue even received a copy of the consultation questionnaire! Surely it is vital to ensure that each household definitely receives a consultation questionnaire on such a contentious matter! A simple check list that is officially signed off by a senior member of the consultation team would ensure this is carried out.

Letters of ‘corporate complaint’ have been sent to the Chief Executive of the Council Andrew Kilburn and the replies received just recently are due to be taken to the next step in the complaints procedure.

All the best,Nick.

2009-07-13T15:02:00.000-07:00

Dear all,
Good meeting this evening and good to see some new faces too. I have figured out how to invite people to join the blog and so will get started on inviting the very many people whose email addresses the group has.

Also I took a look at some map/distance tools on the web and am pleased and not at all surprised to confirm that the LP zone is well over half a mile from Blackhorse Road and the High St. As the crow flies, BHR station to the corner of Winns Terrace/Ave is 0.883 miles, very much outside the limit. From Blackhorse Road to the nearest part of Winns Ave is 0.485 miles, so technically a few houses at the end furthest from the park may be just inside the half mile radius, but the VAST majority of the area is clearly not. Just for completeness from the High St (I was kind, I suspect WCentral would be fairer) to the corner of Winns Ave and Terrace is 0.572 miles and NO point of Winns Ave is under 0.50 miles.

So in sum 0.015 miles (that is 24m , maybe 2 properties?) of Winns Ave (furthest from the park) are less that 0.5miles from Blackhorse road and none of it is 0.5 miles from the High St. And these numbers will be in my request for an independent review on whether the council followed it's own procedures. Because clearly they don't.
Check for yourself here.... http://www.freemaptools.com/measure-distance.htm I will look some more at a later date.
Best wishes all,
Andrea

William Morris Ward Panel meeting invite

2009-07-13T02:46:00.001-07:00

The William Morris SNT police have invited any interested parties along to their Ward Panel meeting which is to be held on Tuesday 14th July at 19:00hours at Greenleaf Community Centre on Greenleaf road (Hoe st junction end).They tell me they will be asking councillors to report to them and that the CPZ will be one of the main areas that they will cover in regards to their Ward priorities,which covers motor vehicle crime.They are also very interested in how the WMCPAG meeting goes.

I will be able to attend this but would be pleased if someone else could also attend to assist in putting forward our message.

2009-07-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

Hello all, Looking forward to the meeting on Monday (though I may be late again, but I will try!). I have received a response to my corporate complaint as I'm sure others have, not that impressive and I intend to ask for a second stage independent review. But it will be good to hear everyones thoughts at the meeting. Thanks to Lorna for her last few posts (I have been away with work and it was my b'day so I have been absent, sorry!).
See you soon.
Andrea

William Morris on YouTube

2009-07-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

WMCPAG in the media!

2009-07-09T10:18:00.000-07:00

18-06-2009
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/search/4446811.WALTHAMSTOW__CPZ__selfish_and_exclusive___action_group_claims/

07-05-2009
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/search/4351256.WALTHAMSTOW__Councillors_acknowledge_CPZ__misery_/

04-04-2009
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/search/4265854.WALTHAMSTOW__Residents_not_included_in_CPZ_survey/

12-03-2009
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/search/4196139.WALTHAMSTOW__Households_hit_back_at_CPZ/

(a) The latest 'local' Guardian Newspaper article.

http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/wfnews/4446811.WALTHAMSTOW__CPZ__selfish_and_exclusive___action_group_claims/

next meeting re:CPZ

2009-07-09T10:17:00.001-07:00

The next meeting of our action group will be on Monday 13 July at 7:30pm at The Lloyd Park Centre.

The purpose of the meeting will be to bring members of the action group up to date on developments since we last met, of which there have been a number..

You may also wish to know that WMCPAG has heard that Ward councillors will be attending a meeting on 22nd July where they will be briefed by Council officers about the current situation and, in the light of this, it will be useful for the action group to discuss the current failure of councillors and Council officers to adequately respond to the concerns many residents have raised with them .

William Morris Parking Facebook group

2009-07-09T10:16:00.001-07:00

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=103442412416

please join,its a great way to find out up to date information.

reply from Police Safer Neighbourhood Team

2009-07-07T01:18:00.000-07:00

This is the very interesting reply I recieved from the William Morris Safer Neighbourhood Team regarding the problems that they have seen directly resulting from the CPZ,not least the increase in vehicle crime (see my previous post!).I did offer that we would work with them in publicising any initiatives re:CPZ problems on this blog-not sure if that will be seen as impartial,but it does make you wonder,'is there anyone at all who is in favour if this CPZ?'

I have been patrolling down those two roads, Fleeming and Elphinstone, during school-exiting hours this week and I have seen for myself the problem with people parking up at the school in the restricted area.

I have made a note of who I have warned about their parking in this area, and should I see them again I shall be issuing tickets to them.

As for the CPZ; yes, we have seen an increase in vehicle crime around Fleeming, Carr and Elphinstone Roads since the introduction of the CPZ earlier this year. We have stated this on a few occasions to the council. We understand the residents' feelings about the matter and it would make our jobs a bit easier as well if CPZ was changed or, at least, somewhat amended.

We are in the process of doing some late-night ops to try and tackle vehicle crime on our ward. We are also being pro-active in giving the residents crime prevention advice, in the form of house-to-house checks and a regular scheduling of a crime prevention vehicle that can dispense crime prevention items and advise residents on how best to secure their vehicles. We are hoping that this two-pronged approach will get the results that we are looking for.

More photos...

2009-07-02T14:26:00.000-07:00

Hello all, just some more pictorial evidence that the CPZ on Winns Ave is totally un necessary, particularly at weekends. It is shameful.
I meant to take pics outside my flat this evening to show something else that is happening, there is so much space that nobody is parking properly, leaving half a car space between vehicles making the road look fuller. If they parked properly it would be really easy to see how little of the space is taken up by residents.
I received a nice response from Neil Gerrard MP who of course said it isn't anything to do with him, but he said that he was aware of the problems and sent the process for making a corporate complaint.
Interesting that I have still not had a response from Bellam and that is who the letter was written to. I may write again. I am sick of the arrogance and lack of accountability of locally elected officials. Does anyone else think it is time to start the PR machine? John could you put me in touch with the journalist lady who came to the meeting so that we can talk it over?
Thanks all,
Andrea

2009-07-02T14:15:00.000-07:00

Tues 30th June 7:20pm 9 cars park to fleeming

Sunday 27th June pm 10 cars, park to fleeming

Sat 21st June 8 cars park to fleeming.

updates needed and new commenters!!

2009-06-27T13:59:00.001-07:00

If you are reading this and know anyone who's interested but isn't aware of the blog,please pass the link onto them!

I thought I would post this reply I recieved way back in January in response to my complaint about the CPZ and my request to know why such a stupid thing had been bought in at the expebse of the surrounding roads.No doubt it will look famlair to some of you as it is a bog standard reply sent to all.

> Dear Sir or Madam,
>
> Councillor Belam has asked me to acknowledge your email about parking
> congestion. At the end of 2008 the Council implemented a Controlled
> Parking Zone (CPZ) in the area between Forest Road and Winns Avenue.
> Within the zone most parking spaces are reserved for 'permit holders
> only'. Permits are issued only to people who live or work at an address
> within the zone.,
>
> Since the new scheme was implemented the Council has been contacted by
> a number of residents of Elphinstone Road, Fleeming Road, Carr Road and
> Pennant Terrace reporting parking congestion in this area. Council
> Officers have visited these roads and observed a high density of
> parking, as residents have described. Parking enforcement in the new
> zone started early in January. After the scheme has had time to settle
> in the Council will in due course carry out surveys and site
> observations to assess the effects of the scheme and this will include
> looking at the parking density in roads outside the zone, including your
> own, which might be affected.
>
> If, as you may fear, parking transfers permanently into your area as a
> result of the schemes now being introduced then CPZ extensions may be
> considered in future subject to consultation with residents. Council
> Policy is that permit parking schemes are introduced only in areas where
> consultation has been carried out and a majority of replies are in
> favour.
>
> Public consultation for the new CPZ took place last July. Relatively
> few requests for permit parking schemes had been received from your area
> compared to other areas where CPZs have been agreed and at that time the
> Council’s parking policy gave priority to schemes within half a mile
> of the main transport hubs and town centre areas. For these reasons
> Elphinstone Road, Fleeming Road, Carr Road and Pennant Terrace were not
> included in the consultation area. Since then parking policies have
> been reviewed and in future priorities will be agreed based on an
> assessment of the level of public representation campaigning for a
> scheme together with the level of problems identified on street from
> surveys and site observations. The previous policy giving specific
> priority to transport hubs and town centres no longer applies.
>
> Petitions or requests asking for a permit parking scheme may be
> submitted either via your Councillors, by writing to Waltham forest
> Council, Public Realm, Low Hall, Argall Avenue, London E10 7AS or by
> emailing wfdirect@walthamforest.gov.uk If you want to speak to your
> Councillors about this policy or any other issue their contact details
> can be found on our website at: www.walthamforest.gov.uk/councillors
>
> Parking schemes are not funded from Council Tax or Business Rates
> therefore charges are made to help cover the cost of running the scheme.
> In all Waltham Forest Controlled Parking Zones the standard charge for
> a resident permit is currently £45 a year for the first vehicle, £85 for
> the second vehicle and £115 for the third and subsequent vehicle (these
> charges are approximately halved for a low C02 emission vehicle, or
> doubled for a high emission vehicle). Business permits are available
> but the annual cost is considerably higher - £390 for the first two
> vehicles at a business address and £550 for subsequent vehicles.
> Short-term permits for visitors (50p for an hour) are also available.
> More details about permit charges are on the website at:
> www.walthamforest.gov.uk/parking-permits
>
> If you wish to object to the Traffic Orders for the CPZ scheme please
> see paragraph 6 of the public notice (also attached) which was
> published in the Waltham Forest Magazine (WFM) dated 17/11/08. The
> experimental orders came into force on 1st December 2008 (although
> enforcement did not start until January) therefore the Council must
> consider and respond to any objections received within the six month
> period from that date, or from a later date if variations or
> modifications are made.
>
> yours sincerely
>
>
>
> Tom Wright,
> Waltham Forest Council, Traffic Team,Low Hall, Argall Avenue, London E10
> 7AS.
> Tel: 020 8496 1039
> email: tom.wright@walthamforest.gov.uk
> Web: www.walthamforest.gov.uk
> Roads & Parking: www.walthamforest.gov.uk/parking-roads

2009-06-21T04:28:00.000-07:00

I think it would be great if we could get some kind of confirmation from the Police that this has caused more problems. The problem is that the Council are pushing EXPANDING the CPZ as the answer to the problem. We have to make sure that doesn't happen, we need to go back to how we were.

Basically if we don't get the decision on the LP area of Winns Ave overturned (remembering that the residents of LP voted 3:1 against being in the CPZ anyway) even if they then want to actually do the survey properly (which will clearly fail which is why they are trying to wiggle out of it) It just means that the CPZ will be expanded indefinately till the whole Borough is paying to park and the council are raking it in.
It is shocking.

Remember there is still time to send in a corporate complaint and to complain to Traffic Orders in writing to formally object to what has happened, the effect it has had and how the council didn't follow it's own rules. I think it is a really important point that the residents of LP Winns Ave voted against it and our wishes are being over run by a tiny majority who don't even live here as they packaged up all of the extension together rather than treating the new zones separately. That is one of the grounds I objected on. THey say we voted for it, but we didn't not where I live.
Still having trouble uploading pics, but will asap.
Andrea:)

another one from me,a bit off-topic!

2009-06-20T03:43:00.000-07:00

Just a heads up for anyone who parks their car on Fleeming road,or indeed Carr/Elphinstone,I had my car broken (attempted theft of the car) into last weekend,causing £120 worth of damage,technically a write-off for the insurance,hopefully its a one off but we had a spate of break ins on the road a few years ago so please be extra careful with security.I rely on my car for work,so I'd be really stuck without it!

William Morris Safer Neighbourhoods police

2009-06-20T03:31:00.000-07:00

Hello,this is my 1st post on here,I thought I'd help Andrea as its quite a job to maintain a blog on your own!My posts will probably be about day to day goings on in Fleeming road and the surrounding roads.

I saw the most ridiculous bit of parking in Fleeming road at school kicking out time during the week,a car was parked right across the pavement crossing point for the school,and poking out into the road,all because he couldnt park where he wanted-to me it seems that this is on the increase and is a result of the CPZ,yet I never see any traffic wardens about at this time,and this is a danger to the local children and pedestrians.

Because of this,I ended up having an interesting chat with a P.C from the William Morris Safer Neighbourhood Team Police and he told me that the team have noticed a big increase in problems in the WM area since the introduction of the CPZ on Winns Avenue-I will ring him again and see if I can get anything more official on here-it seems everyone is feeling the negative effects of the CPZ!

2009-06-19T03:43:00.000-07:00

Hello all, sorry for the absence.
Quick update - I received and acknowledgement from the Council leader about my corporate complaint confirming that it had been passed to Mark Esom to be looked into. I also heard back from the Mayors office (nothing to do with them unless it is red route related) and from the Env and Regeneration (Mark Esom's dept) saying it was being investigated by.... Tom Wright! Who is in fact the very firstperson I complained too on the 1st December 2008. Talk about round in circles! It is at stage 1 - if you aren't happy with the outcome you can ask for an independent stage 2 investigation. I can't imagine this will be dealt with fairly without bringing in people who have no face to lose. The council are too arrogant to admit they are wrong. Anyway will update as and when.
I did also receive another acknowledgement of my original objection to the plans from the Traffic Office saying it would be considered.
I have STILL had no acknowledgement from Councillor Bellam. The arrogance of that man!
If you want me to add you as a contributor/admin, please let me know. I have added Lorna already - welcome!
A

7 cars

2009-06-13T03:37:00.000-07:00

I can't find my cable, but I have the pictures, at 11:20 today there were a total of 7 cars between the Park and Fleeming road. Vast tracts of parking unused, must be 10 percent occupancy and as a resident of the road with no car I would have to pay £5 to park a hire car, or have my brother bring my brand new nephew over, or see anyone in under 3 hours since as always the Victoria line is down all weekend.... Utterly shameful, there is no need for weekend restrictions.

Responses to letters

2009-06-13T03:11:00.001-07:00

Hello All, I wrote a letter to Cllr Belam at the start of May outlining my issues with the CPZ and how the council has conducted itself and copied it to lots of people (cllrs reardon, gladstone, the Mayor, our london assembly member etc). In addition I made a formal complaint to the Traffic Orders Office, which is what it said to do on the notice that went in wfm magazine.
Since then I have received an acknowledgement letter from Tom Wright (I assume to the Traffic Orders letter) and this morning from the Mayors office saying unless it involves red routes they don't intervene. And that is it.

Just been outside to see how many cars are between the Park and Fleeming, photos to come....
A

Neil Herron

2009-06-11T08:27:00.000-07:00

I think we need to contact this chap. http://neilherron.blogspot.com/

His blog goes back years - he has all sorts of knowledge, from the legalities of CPZ imposition and enforcement to clamping and road markings. It has taken over his life, he has remorgaged his home to get a Judicial Review on parking tickets.... There's lots of interesting stuff on here....

Got me thinking our eCPZ was brought in for 6 months only, we are past that period now, has a new order been put in place? I don't think it has.

Are they running an illegal CPZ in the meantime, looks like they might be. How about letter stating that they are running a CPZ without an order in place.....

Please post what you think - best wishes
A

Newpaper Articles - Waltham Forest have been in the news before....

2009-06-11T07:15:00.000-07:00

Had a look around for some articles on the Guardian site (happened to be on there, will look in other papers too!) and found some really interesting ones. Take a look at the new links to the left - Waltham Forest get a mention for the massive hike in permit costs last year.

Did you know that in some areas all residents in the Zones get 200 hours of free visitor parking? Seems some councils are interested in their residents well being and others are only interested in the cash....

There is an email address for Rupert Jones who wrote the 2007 article - I'm happy to drop him a line and see if he would like to follow up with a piece on how Waltham Forest are now treating us.... Comments?

from the Muswell Hill 2001 article.....
"In Enfield, north London, a survey was sent to households. All people who declared that there was a local parking problem were considered to be in favour of a CPZ. In neighbouring Haringey, a survey was so confusing that, after a critical report from the district auditor and legal threats from local residents, the council decided to scrap an existing CPZ in the Bounds Green neighbourhood" (who is our district auditor? Should we find out?)

"Brophy, in Muswell Hill, recalls: "We were horrified when we found documents which showed that the council had been planning the CPZs for five years without telling anyone. They'd even worked out how much paint they needed to put on the roads and made extensive forecasts of how much profit they would make. It destroyed our faith in the council." (I think that an FOI request for this sort of thing is in order)

from the stealth tax 2007 article - we get a mention!
"This week, residents of the London borough of Waltham Forest were hit with a 50% increase in the price of their annual parking permits, and a trebling in the cost of visitor permits. Until Monday, it cost £30 a year for a resident living in a controlled area to park their car in the street; now it is £45. Meanwhile, the price of a book of 10 five-hour visitor permits has jumped from £7 to £21. That's £4.20 for one day's parking (two five-hour permits) - which adds up to a lot if, say, your mum regularly drives over to babysit while you are at work, or you regularly have tradespeople in.
A council spokesman says this is the first rise in permit costs for two years, and adds: "The vast majority of people are not covered by CPZs. The only people who are going to object to it are the people who live in those areas." So that makes it all right, then."

"But even if you don't own a car, if you live in a CPZ, you will usually still have to buy visitor permits. In some areas, less well-off residents say it means they have to ask the doctor and other callers to visit in the evening, after the restrictions have ended.

Contrast the approaches of Waltham Forest and Islington (which charges £18 for a book of 10 three-hour vouchers) with that of Sutton in Surrey, where all households within a CPZ are entitled to 200 hours of free visitor parking per year. And in Salisbury, Wiltshire, daily visitor vouchers cost just 20p each."

Saturday, Winns Ave practically empty...again

2009-06-09T13:11:00.000-07:00

Not sure what happened there, the pics disappeared! Here are pictures of Winns Ave between the park and Fleeming road and there are a total of 8 cars parked, on the first Saturday in June. Hardly an overwhelming need by residents for restricted parking at weekends, I wonder how many people on Fleeming and Carr could have done with one of the many many spaces free. And how many visitors didn't visit relatives, the park, local businesses, the Lloyd Park Centre etc when they would have, before this was brought in?

2009-06-08T14:32:00.000-07:00

Didn't realise I have to moderate comments before they appear, will try and do this every day. Thanks for the comments so far (hope you found that midnight parking spot!) and do feel free to post messages as well as comment. I agree that an e petition would be a good idea, we could easily set one up. Best wishes, Andrea

You have to love Liberty

2009-06-06T03:22:00.000-07:00

"If you have suffered an injustice as a result of maladministration by a local authority, you can complain to the Local Government Ombudsman. Maladministration can include failing to receive a service to which you are entitled or suffering financial loss or distress as a consequence of something the local authority has done or has failed to do."

Well I think we can safely say that we have all suffered distress (and financial loss) as a consequence of something our local authority has done and indeed failed to do!

Stories please.

2009-06-06T02:53:00.000-07:00

Had a great suggestion in, we can use this site to collect stories and anecdotes about how the changes have affected us. We can chose the best ones that show a range of issues for the main website.
Also please do add links to the box on the left (if you can, I think anyone can otherwise paste them into a post and I'll try and copy them over) for anything you think is interesting or relevant.
Best wishes
Andrea

2009-06-04T15:07:00.000-07:00

While I'm looking around... petitiononline have several anti CPZ petitions http://www.petitiononline.com/NO2CPZ/petition.html this one is Cardiff, so we could look at what happened there. http://www.petitiononline.com/savewmg/petition.html save william morris gallery got over 11 thousand signatures. It is something we could think about.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2008/08/01/haringey_cpz_feature.shtml I thought this was interesting, look how honest Harringay has been over their parking surveys etc. Haven't checked on the status now yet. I think we should request the results be published by road and zone. After their denial I think that is is incredibly important that they acknowledge that the LP section of Winns Ave voted against the imposition of the zone.

2009-06-04T14:20:00.000-07:00

So uploading photo's is a bit tricksy if you haven't done it before, sorry it is a bit of a mess, but I sent these to Cllr Belam along with a letter that I will try to upload here. Just to show how ridiculous it seems, how few residents cars need the road at weekends.

2009-06-04T14:04:00.000-07:00

February 1st 2009

January 25th 2009

Hello world!

2009-06-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

Hello All,
Welcome to the William Morris Parking Group blog.
We could use this as an informal place to meet and chat, update eachother on anything we have heard from the council to individual letters, or anything that isn't necessarily needed on the main site. We can upload pics and videos here if you want to share anything.
Anyway I thought we could try this out as it is and change/abandon it if people like.
Lovely to meet you all,
Andrea