Agenda item

Councillor Martin Goddard attended the meeting and advised that all three Ward Councillors were in support of the petition. 

Concerns and suggestions raised at the meeting included the following:

·         It was noted that, although the majority of residents in Colnedale Drive had off street parking, there were some properties that did not have this option;

·         The bays were often used by shoppers or people who worked in the vicinity which meant that residents often had to park some distance away from their properties (up to a 10 minute walk).  There were also residents from U7 that parked in the bays with impunity;

·         A local former public house site had been granted planning permission to build 15 flats with one parking space provided for each unit.  As many households were likely to have more than one vehicle and visitors would also need to have their parking needs accommodated, the associated parking provision would not be sufficient and demand for the bays was likely to increase;

·         Although planning permission had not yet been agreed, it was noted that there were proposals to build an additional 300 flats on the Wickes/Halfords site with no parking provision;

·         It was noted that no day of the week was any worse than another;

·         Residents requested parking restrictions from Monday to Saturday; and

·         It appeared that U1 was an anomaly with outdated restrictions that needed to be reviewed.  It was suggested that, if the restrictions were reviewed, consideration would need to be given to reviewing the restrictions currently in place in zones U7 and U8 at the same time as there was likely to be a displacement in the parking.

Councillor Burrows listened to the concerns of the petitioners and responded to the points raised.  He noted that the parking restrictions had been introduced in March 2006 and that, as things were likely to have changed during the intervening period, it would be appropriate to review the situation.  Although they may have a different response (as the parking issues were likely to reduce further away from Uxbridge), residents in U7 and U8 would also be consulted on proposed changes.

Residents were reminded that, when they received the informal consultation documents, it was important that they responded.  Without a clear mandate, the Cabinet Member would not be able to make any decision as to what action should be taken.  Officers would provide Councillor Burrows with the number of properties in the proposed consultation area (U1, U7 and U8) and consideration would then be given to when the consultation documents would be circulated to residents (this was likely to be in 3-4 months).

RESOLVED:  Meeting with the petitioners, the Cabinet Member:

1.    considered the request to extend the days and hours that the Parking Management Scheme operates in Colnedale Road, Uxbridge.

2.    asked officers to add the request for extended operational times from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday to the Council’s future parking scheme programme for informal consultation .

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 were discussed with petitioners.