Agenda item

The Cabinet Member considered a petition requesting for a parking management scheme to be implemented in Hunters Grove, Hayes.

The lead petitioner put forward to the Cabinet Member some reasons to action the request for a parking management scheme. Key points raised by the petitioner included:

People were parking illegally in front of residents’ driveways.

Shop owners and their employees were parking their vehicles in the area from early morning till late at night.

People who were away on holiday would leave their parked vehicles for weeks and usually occupied two parking spaces.

People often blocked residents’ driveways and reversed their vehicles into it, resulting in damage to the nearby lamp post and walls to their properties.

The lead petitioner highlighted that her cat had been killed by speeding cars in the area.

It was added that people would park illegally at the top of the road and that parking restrictions in relation to double yellow lines were ignored. This caused heavy congestion problems at the junction of Coldharbour Lane and Hunters Grove.

Bins on the street caused an obstruction to elderly pedestrians and pedestrians with pushchairs.

Councillor Curling, representing Hayes Town Ward, expressed his endorsement of the petition because Hunters Grove and the other roads in the area all suffered with similar congestion issues, as the roads were particularly narrow.

Reference was made to the petitioners’ request for ‘residents and their guests to be able to park free on the road’, which was the Council’s previous policy. It was noted that as per the Council’s current policy, the annual cost for a permit was a minimum of £75.

A suggestion of a suitable consultation area for agreement by Ward Councillors and Officers was raised by Councillor Curling. It was proposed that the Parking Management Scheme could be implemented between Hunters Grove and Minet Drive with the possibility of an extension to Birch Way.

The Cabinet Member acknowledged the narrowness of Hunters Grove and the surrounding roads, which served as a speed deterrent but also caused congestion on the roads.

There was already an existing parking zone in some roads adjacent to Hunters Grove. An extension of the scheme to Birch Way would be explored and considered.

The Cabinet Member conveyed that where parking schemes were put in place, a realistic factor for consideration was the Council’s Engineering Officers needing to ascertain the location of where it would be permissible and practicable to put a parking place, which was governed by a raft of rules.

The Cabinet Member was aware of the persistent issues surrounding holiday parking which formed part of a much wider problem in the south of the Borough.

In relation to the petitioner’s double yellow line comments, Traffic Officers would be requested to target the area more frequently to issue tickets for parking on double yellow lines, which would send out a clear message that drivers should not be ignoring the parking rules.

It was noted that the Council had adopted a long-term policy of not imposing parking schemes on residents. Following consultation, if it was found that there was a consensus in favour of a parking scheme, then the scheme would move towards implementation. By the same token, however, if most residents were against the parking scheme, then the Council would not impose the scheme on residents as it would not have received majority support.

The Cabinet Member noted that funding for parking schemes usually derived from an allocation from TFL.

The petitioner explained, concerningly, that due to the congestion issues on Hunters Grove, the ambulance and fire brigades were sometimes stuck in congestion.

Though it was a residential area, the petitioner felt that Hunters Grove did not have the appearance of being one because the area was almost always congested.

The lead petitioner expressed that when leaving work, she was often stuck in the junction of Coldharbour Lane and Hunters Grove for around 10 minutes and had video evidence that would be sent to the Traffic Parking Road Safety School Manager or Democratic Services after the meeting for further investigation.

The Cabinet Member enquired if the lead petitioner had considered making the road a one-way street.

The Traffic Parking Road Safety School Manager advised that a consultation into the possible implementation of a parking scheme would be undertaken on a house by house, street by street basis and that the results of the consultation would be carefully assessed. One-way street systems were to be considered with caution because it sometimes resulted in increased traffic speeds.

The petitioner’s concerns in relation to illegal parking had already been passed on to the Parking Enforcement Team, who advised officers that there would be increased patrols in the area.

The petitioner responded that she had previously written a letter to her local MP in 2022, who had increased patrols in the area at the time, but that this was a temporary solution and did not work out in the long term.

The Traffic Parking Road Safety School Manager reassured the petitioner that in Hunters Grove between 1 January 2023 and 1 January 2024, the area was visited 2283 times by Civil Enforcement Officers and there were 402 Penalty Charge Notices issued. Officers would continue to focus their efforts on ensuring the area was consistently monitored moving forward.

The petitioner highlighted that it was previously agreed that during the period covering 01 October 2022 to 15 March 2023, 130 parking tickets were issued. Out of the 130 tickets issued, 117 of those were related to parking on double yellow lines. The petitioner felt that the number of parking tickets issued did not affect the level of congestion in the area.

The Cabinet Member acknowledged the points and issues highlighted by the lead petitioner and proposed the possibility of instructing officers to issue parking tickets at specific times of the day as a targeted approach to tackling congestion.

Further to this, the petitioner requested the possibility of installing an enforcement camera to address some of the congestion issues in the area, to which the Cabinet Member responded that the Council was not permitted in law to enforce by camera. However, the Council was permitted to instruct officers to issue parking tickets.

Moreover, the Cabinet Member noted that it was an offence for any person to park on the front of their property without going across a dropped kerb and that the Council would take action as appropriate for those who did not comply with this rule.

During the consultative process for a parking scheme, residents would be reminded of the Council’s policy on dropped kerbs.

Residents could apply for dropped kerb for a fee through the Council.

RESOLVED:

Thatthe CabinetMember forProperty, Highwaysand Transport:

1)    Met with petitioners and listened to their request for a Parking Management Scheme to be implemented in Hunters Grove.

2)    Requested officers to add this request to the Council’s extensive Parking Scheme Programme for further investigation and informal consultation in an area agreed with Ward Councillors.

3)    Asked officers in the relevant department to investigate any possible cases in HuntersGrove whereit appearsthat off-streetparking istaking place,but theproper installation of the necessary dropped kerbs and reinforcements to the adjacent paving have not been undertaken.