Agenda and minutes

It was confirmed that the business of the meeting would take place in public.

Councillor Phoday Jarjussey was present as a Ward Councillor.

Concerns and suggestions from petitioners included the following:

• Businesses were experiencing difficulties with customer parking and in particular the lack of disabled parking facilities.
• Vehicles were parking in a hazardous manner which was creating a hazard for passing cyclists travelling along Uxbridge North.
• Vehicles were parked over the cycle lane which negated the purpose of the cycle lane.
• Vehicles were being parked for long periods and often overnight.
• There was a near-by Taxi Cab office and taxis were often parked, blocking the service road.
• A "Stop and Shop" Parking scheme would benefit shopkeepers and customers and would eradicate other parking.

Councillor Phoday Jarjussey spoke in support of the petitioners and asked that consideration be given to the request to improve resident's safety in the area.   

The Cabinet Member, Cllr Keith Burrows, responded to the petitioner and was informed that residents, who lived above the businesses, parked their vehicles at the rear access to the premises. 

Resolved - Meeting with the Petitioners, the Cabinet Member:

1.         Discussed the request for a "Stop and Shop" Parking Scheme outside Nos. 757-849 Uxbridge Road, Uxbridge.  

2.         Instructed officers to add this request for a "Stop and Shop" parking scheme to the Council's forward parking programme for informal consultation with businesses and residents.

Councillors Shehryar Ahmad-Wallana, Peter Davis and Ian Edwards attended the meeting as Ward Councillors.

Concerns and suggestions from petitioners included the following:

·         There was not enough space for the number of residents' cars.

·         The location was close to West Drayton Train Station so commuters and shoppers parked their cars there when using the station to commute into London.

·         The location was close to the airport and people left their cars there and caught the nearby bus service (No.350 bus) straight to the airport. Reference was made to cars being left for weeks at a time.

·         There were a number of large commercial vans which took up the space of two or more cars such as minibuses which were often parked over the weekend.

·         The situation had been made worse by the recent introduction of a Parking Management Scheme on Colham Avenue which runs parallel with Edgar Road.

·         All the cars which were previously parking on Colham Avenue were now parking on Edgar Road.

·         In addition those cars which belonged to the residents of Colham Avenue who did not wish to pay the permit fee for the second car also parked their vehicles on Edgar Road.  

The three Ward Councillor spoke in support of the petitioners.

The Cabinet Member, Cllr Keith Burrows, listened to the concerns and responded to the points raised.  Cllr Burrows commented that he was very much aware of the issues and referred to the introduction of Cross Rail which would add to the problems.

Resolved - Meeting with the Petitioners, the Cabinet Member:

1.            Considered the concerns raised by petitioners regarding parking in Edgar Road, West Drayton.

2.         Asked officers to add the request to the Council’s extensive parking programme for further investigation.

3.        Requested officers to review the current yellow lines in this area and report back to the Cabinet Member.

Concerns and suggestions from petitioners included the following:

• At the lower half of the Ridgeway there was a "blind" hill which created a blind spot for vehicles travelling on the road.
• Waiting restrictions for the lower half of the Ridgeway would reduce this congestion and improve visibility.
• The waiting restrictions could either be a limited time waiting restriction or the road could be included in a Parking Management Scheme. 
• There was a problem of non-residential parking caused by people who were shopping in Ruislip Manor town centre and commuters who were using the underground station.
• The petitioners referred to photographs which clearly showed the congestion in the road.
• Refuse vehicles had problems accessing the road because of the congestion caused by parked vehicles.

The Cabinet Member, Cllr Keith Burrows, informed the petitioners that the Ward Councillors had contacted him expressing their support for the petitioner's request.  

The Cabinet Member, Cllr Keith Burrows, listened to the concerns and responded to the points raised. 

Reference was made to the informal consultation which had previously been undertaken in the part of Ridgeway as well as College Drive, Hawtrey Drive, the Uplands and Westholme Gardens. After careful consideration of the results of the consultation, the Cabinet Member had decided that no further action be taken with regards to introducing parking restrictions at that time.

Cllr Burrows explained that the implementation of single yellow line waiting restrictions would mean that there could be no residential parking permits issued to exempt residents from parking restrictions.

The petitioners were informed that they would be consulted on the design of any scheme to ensure that the scheme suited residents' needs.

Resolved - Meeting with the Petitioners, the Cabinet Member:

1)     Considered the concerns raised regarding parking in The Ridgeway.

2)     Instructed officers to undertake parking stress surveys during September 2015 and report back to the Cabinet Member.

3)     Asked officers to add the request to the Council's extensive parking programme for future informal consultation.

4)     Requested officers to check with the refuse service to ascertain if there were problems with access on The Ridgeway, and this be reported back to the Cabinet Member.

Concerns and suggestions from the petitioner included the following:

·         The petitioner informed the Cabinet Member that both he and his son had received parking tickets for parking their vehicles outside their home.

·         The petitioner was a tax driver who worked nights and he had to move his taxi in the mornings so he did not receive parking tickets.

·         The introduction of a residents parking scheme would provide parking for the residents that lived on High Street.

Reference was made to a previous consultation which had taken place on options to manage parking on High Street, Northwood in November 2013. Included in this a consultation had also taken place with businesses on the High Street on a possible "Stop and Shop" parking scheme. The results of this consultation were that the majority of residents and businesses did not support managed parking in their roads.

The Cabinet Member, Cllr Keith Burrows, informed the petitioners that the Ward Councillors had contacted him expressing their support for the petitioner's request.  

The Cabinet Member, Cllr Keith Burrows, listened to the concerns and responded to the points raised. 

Resolved - Meeting with the Petitioners, the Cabinet Member:

1)     Considered the concerns raised by the petitioner in relation to parking in High Street, Northwood.

2)     Asked officers to add the request to the Council's extensive parking programme for further investigation.

Concerns and suggestions from petitioners included the following:

·         The request was being made to stop motorists using the service road as a short cut ("rat-run") route.

·         Vehicles often sped down the service road which placed the lives of pedestrians, including children at risk.

·         There have been a number of accidents and near misses recently with speeding vehicles. The petitioner referred to his wife almost being hit by car when she was trying to get into her car.

·         The introduction of safety measures such as raised tables would slow speeding vehicles down.

·         The service road was meant purely for residents getting in and out of their drives.

The Cabinet Member, Cllr Keith Burrows, informed the petitioners that the Ward Councillors had contacted him expressing their support for the petitioner's request.  

Reference was made to the previous survey which had been carried out in the road and details of this were reported to the meeting. The data had demonstrated that there was a high volume of vehicles leaving the service road to join the main carriageway at the first available access point.    

The Cabinet Member, Cllr Keith Burrows, listened to the concerns and responded to the points raised.  Cllr Burrows informed the petitioner that this needed to be looked at again and that he would have discussions with the road safety scheme on what other surveys could be undertaken.

Resolved - Meeting with the Petitioners, the Cabinet Member:

1)   Considered the petitioners’ request for raised tables and measures to stop rat-running in Field End Road, Ruislip.

2)   Noted that the Council had commissioned an independent traffic survey in this section of the service road, Field End Road, as detailed in the report.

3)  Noted the efforts by officers to try to address the petitioners' concerns through the process of 'intelligent intervention' as a means of avoiding the need for the petitioners to meet formally with the Cabinet Member.

4)    Agreed to discuss with officers on what other studies could be undertaken to assess the concerns raised by petitioners.