Agenda item

Councillors Janet Duncan and Jan Sweeting attended the meeting and spoke as Ward Councillors in support of the petition. 

Concerns and suggestions raised at the meeting included the following:

·         Petitioners requested a parking management scheme (PMS) in The Green as, although it was an extensive area, it was almost impossible for residents to park there.  The petition organiser had arrived home at 2.30pm and had had to park in Pippins Close as there were no parking spaces near his property;

·         It was noted that it was likely that there would be other petitions submitted requesting PMSs in the surrounding roads;

·         There were some vehicles that were being parked in The Green and left for several weeks/months.  The Council had been putting notices on some of these vehicles which appeared to be abandoned;

·         Commuters using West Drayton station would routinely park in The Green until about 8pm or 9pm.  Although the station had its own car park, it appeared that drivers were reluctant to use it;

·         Holidaymakers would often park in The Green and catch the bus to Heathrow airport, particularly at Easter and during the summer;

·         Residents were aware that they had no right to park outside their own properties but even those with driveways were having problems manoeuvring their vehicles on/off their properties;

·         The parking issues had become significantly worse over the last month or so;

·         It was acknowledged that parking was an issue elsewhere in the area (such as Mill Road, Pippins Close and Money Lane) and that petitions had already been received from residents about issues in Swan Road and Church Road;

·         New developments in the area had inadequate parking provision and, while the developments were being built, developers were also parking in this area;

·         The implementation of PMSs in surrounding roads had displaced the vehicles to The Green and other roads;

·         It was suggested that the whole area needed to be surveyed to establish which residents would be in support of a PMS and to prevent parking from being pushed elsewhere in the area.  This had been widely publicised in the media;

·         There were some unscrupulous individuals who had been charging people for "secure airport parking" and then leaving their cars in this residential area;

·         Once the Elizabeth Line was open, it was anticipated that the parking issues would worsen; 

·         If staff working at Britannia Court, an office complex, were unable to park on site, they were parking in The Green and adding to the existing parking problems;

·         Concern was expressed that there were vehicles which would travel down the one way system the wrong way; and

·         The volume of traffic meant that some vehicles were frequently having to stop and start which added to the pollution in the area. 

Councillor Burrows listened to the concerns of the petitioners and responded to the points raised.  He was very familiar with the area and was aware of the impact that the Elizabeth Line, developers, holidaymakers and office workers had on the availability of parking for local residents.  If all of the roads in the area were to be taken as a wider scheme, it would cover in the region of 1,600 properties which would push the area further down the programme.  If The Green was looked at in isolation, it would only be a couple of months before the Ward Councillors were back at another Petition Hearing in relation to another road in the area. 

It was agreed with Ward Councillors that consultation be undertaken with residents in Money Lane, Church Road, Swan Road and The Green as these were the roads that had already submitted petitions requesting a PMS.  Councillor Burrows advised that consultation would be undertaken with these residents in autumn 2017.  He noted that this would be the first stage and that the timing of the next stage (design) would depend on residents' response to the consultation.  The consultation responses would be analysed for each road which meant that those roads that were supportive of a PMS would still go ahead even if other roads did not want a scheme.  Councillor Burrows advised that residents would need to ensure that they completed and returned their consultation forms. 

RESOLVED:  Meeting with the petitioners, the Cabinet Member:

1.            listened to their request for a Parking Management Scheme to be introduced at The Green, West Drayton.

2.            asked officers to add the request for a Parking Management Scheme for The Green to the forthcoming informal consultation on options to manage parking in the local area to be sent out to residents in autumn 2017.

Reasons for recommendations

To allow the Cabinet Member to discuss with petitioners their concerns and, if appropriate, add their request to the parking schemes programme.

Alternative options considered / risk management 

These will be discussed with petitioners.