Sunday, 26 July 2009
Lorna's story
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
Some more photos for you....of Winns Ave
From Traci
Friday, 24 July 2009
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.
Thursday, 23 July 2009
Fiona's story
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
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
It's not just the shop owners at the park....
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.
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
Monday, 20 July 2009
WMCPAG needs YOU!!
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.
Friday, 17 July 2009
William Morris Ward Panel results
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.
Thursday, 16 July 2009
From Nick - a comment that deserves a proper post!
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.
Monday, 13 July 2009
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
I will be able to attend this but would be pleased if someone else could also attend to assist in putting forward our message.
Thursday, 9 July 2009
See you soon.
Andrea
WMCPAG in the media!
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/search/4351256.WALTHAMSTOW__Councillors_acknowledge_CPZ__misery_/
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/search/4265854.WALTHAMSTOW__Residents_not_included_in_CPZ_survey/
next meeting re:CPZ
William Morris Parking Facebook group
please join,its a great way to find out up to date information.
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
reply from Police Safer Neighbourhood Team
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.
Thursday, 2 July 2009
More photos...
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