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Topic: Re:Re:Grove Park CPZ - another dimension - or time
Posted by: Andy Murray
Date/Time: 06/10/14 23:28:00

Dear Gill,
I'm not sure whether, as a dog walker, you think that 12:01 pm with no parking restrictions (as now) is less advantageous than, say 10:01, but perhaps you are not free in the afternoons.

At any rate, this might be relevant:

Chiswick House said, in defence of their car park charges:
"The car park situation is of serious concern to Chiswick House and Gardens Trust. The car park is heavily used by commuters and local residents who are not visiting the gardens i.e. not for the purpose it is intended or for which it was comprehensively renovated. It is constantly over parked causing potentially hazardous situations with visitors unfamiliar with the area pulling back out onto the A4 in search of parking. It is inevitable that these visitors, unless they abandon their trip, are parking in Park Road and neighbouring streets."

No data was presented to the Chiswick Area Forum to back this up these assertions..

However, when it became clear that the 'heavy use by commuters' was being used as a justification for a Park Road CPZ, the Grove Park Group started to monitor the Chiswick House car park 3 times a day for 3 months, starting in August 2012, and duly presented an annotated report to the Chiswick Area Forum, backed up by photographs. (Bear in mind that at no time did the Hounslow Traffic Dept do a survey of car park usage or parking in Park Road before and after the car park charges were introduced, though we requested this be done).

What we found was that there were few instances of the car park being full, but there was a bulge in usage in the afternoon and weekends. You would think that the car park would be full in the morning if 'commuters' were the primary problem, but in fact there were consistently fewer spaces in the afternoons and weekends.  At the times the car park was fullest, there were conspicuous numbers of dog walkers, or on a weekend, a Chiswick House event.

In other words, although it wasn't a completely scientific survey (but it covered 06 August to October 23, and it was the only one ever done) the most likely cause of car park congestion was Chiswick Park users, and in particular dog walkers. I suggested that if the Park Road CPZ was actually about protecting Park Rd residents from an overspill from Chiswick House car park, then a 2-hour CPZ window from 12 noon to 2pm would be the most effective. This suggestion was not taken up, and the CPZ was duly installed from 10AM to noon, to deter the mythical 'commuters', of whom there was never any substantive evidence available for scrutiny. 


Entire Thread
TopicDate PostedPosted By
Grove Park CPZ - another dimension06/10/14 19:24:00 Gill Thomas
   Re:Grove Park CPZ - another dimension06/10/14 20:03:00 John Hickman
      Re:Re:Grove Park CPZ - another dimension - or time06/10/14 23:28:00 Andy Murray
         Re:Re:Re:Grove Park CPZ - another dimension - or time07/10/14 09:12:00 Colin Jordan
   Re:Grove Park CPZ - another dimension07/10/14 09:20:00 Richard Jennings

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