Agenda item

Councillor Scott Seaman-Digby attended the meeting and spoke as a Ward Councillor. 

Concerns and suggestions raised by petitioners included the following:

• Three Rivers District Council residents in Hertfordshire often used the shops in Northwood town centre as it was closer to them and more convenient than towns in their own county.  For example, Rickmansworth was 3 or 4 miles further away;
• It was noted that half of Northwood was actually situated in Hertfordshire.  As such, a significant amount of the trade in Northwood town centre was from non-Borough residents;
• Although the Council was supporting its residents, shop owners felt that they were not being supported by the authority;
• The petitioners acknowledged that all vehicles could park for up to 30 minutes for free but stated that individuals wanting to visit the hairdresser, doctor or dentist would often take longer than 30 minutes which would incur parking charges;
• Two businesses had closed in Northwood town centre over the last few months, with many more struggling.  Petitioners believed that the increase in parking charges was pricing Three Rivers residents out of Northwood and that this would have a detrimental impact on the businesses there;
• One of the businesses in Northwood had stopped offering HillingdonFirst discounts as it was thought to be unfair to half of its customers which were not residents in the Borough;
• It was suggested that drivers be given one hour of free parking in Northwood, rather than 30 minutes; and
• Although it had been suggested that drivers park in Waitrose car park for free, residents were reluctant to do that.  Furthermore, it was believed that Waitrose was contemplating the installation of barriers so that only its customers could use the facility.

Councillor Keith Burrows listened to the concerns of petitioners and responded to the points raised.  It was noted that although two businesses had closed in the last few months, there had been others that had opened.  Furthermore, the parking fees were thought to be well priced, particularly for London. 

The London Borough of Hillingdon was surrounded by other council areas.  As such, it was thought that Northwood was not unique.  However, the Cabinet Member requested that officers provide him with a breakdown of the usage figures so that a comparison could be made between the number of HillingdonFirst cardholders and non-residents that were using the machines.  It was suggested that, if there was a drop in the number of non-HillingdonFirst cardholders using the parking machines in Northwood, consideration could be given to whether this was as a result of the increased parking charges for non-cardholders and whether this was also happening elsewhere in the Borough.

The Cabinet Member advised that, once he had received the usage breakdown, consideration could be given to the possibility of revisiting the issue of differential parking rates.

RESOLVED:  That the Cabinet Member:

1. met with the petitioners to discuss in greater detail their concerns regarding the recent increase in parking charges for non-HillingdonFirst card holders in Northwood;

2. reaffirmed that the current differential parking rates should remain unchanged; and

3. instructed officers to provide the Cabinet Member and Ward Councillors with a breakdown of the statistics provided in the report for further discussion.

Reasons for recommendation

Representatives of the Northwood Residents’ Association have requested that their petition be considered.

Alternative options considered

None.