| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Need for a CPZ | |
| Posted by: | Dan Murphy | |
| Date/Time: | 10/09/15 11:25:00 |
| James it's an extremely good question, and one that the council has never bothered to ask. Over many years (almost ten I think - Andy Murray is the expert archivist on all this) there have been multiple attempts by the council to get a CPZ into Grove Park. ON every occasion, there has been a huge uprising of local feeling at council meetings, special meetings, scrutiny meetings and so on, resulting every time in the Council backing down and admitting that Grove Park simply does not want CPZ in any form. 92% of residents against is such an overwhelming majority, that a while back the council seemed to admit defeat, stating that "This matter has now been resolved once and for all". If only they had left it at that. So why such strong feeling against? Funnily enough, the main reasons seem to be nothing to do with cars or parking. Everyone in GP knows we have problems with parking. But we live in an unusually beautiful area, with trees, lovely old houses, little shopping parades, and reasonably clean uncluttered streets. We are surrounded on all sides by lovely public areas - Chiswick House, the Riverside, and so on. Many residents value this enormously and simply don't want the streets to become cluttered up with all the ugly street furniture that comes with CPZ (signposts, meters, road markings, and so on). It would simply spoil the look and feel of the place. They also fear the simply inconvenience of getting permits, paying for them, and having uniformed officers wandering about slapping fines on your car if your permit is out of date or you have an unexpected visitor. It's all a hassle that many simply don't want. And they prefer to manage the hassle of dense parking, rather than suffer all the problems of a CPZ. The lesser of two evils, if you will. Let me be clear - I am NOT explaining my own personal view here. I am simply answering your question (what are the main reasons for those against it?"). This is what we have been hearing for may years from those residents who are so vehemently against it. In the last three years, another reason has developed. It is now so clear that the council, led by lead member Cllr Mayne and a small band of his close friends in Park Road, engineered the introduction of a 2-road CPZ in Park & Staveley Road, against all logic (they all have their own off street parking!!), and through a series of blatantly misleading arguments about displacement from the Chiswick House car park and so on. Most people now know that we were hoodwinked and duped into having this 2-road CPZ foisted upon us, and it has made a lot of local residents very angry indeed at the way the council has ridden rough over the wishes of the majority. So each time the traffic office have tried to extend the CPZ beyond these two roads into the wider Grove Park area, the number of residents getting increasingly angry at their deceitful and manipulative behavior has grown. And this is why you may sense a growing opposition to the CPZ - simply because many people now recognise that the council are treating us all with contempt. SO it's really not about where we park our cars. It's about people getting very angry at a council trying to spoil the look and feel of our local area, and behaving in an increasingly contemptuous manner to try and impose all this upon us. I think that is the answer to your question. |