Agenda item

Councillors Lynn Allen and Peter Curling attended the meeting and spoke as Ward Councillors.

Concerns and suggestions raised at the meeting included the following:

• Coldharbour Lane currently suffered from severe parking problems.
• Holiday makers regularly used Coldharbour Lane to park before taking a bus or public transport to the airport and cars were often left unattended for several weeks
• Parking problems in Coldharbour Lane had been exacerbated by local traders which had encouraged shoppers to park in Coldharbour Lane.
• Cars were often parked and advertised for sale for several weeks which meant they did not move during this period and took up valuable parking space.
• There had been occasions when residents of Coldharbour Lane had approached motorists parking in the road and there had been abusive confrontations.
• Referring to the public toilet located adjacent to 269 Coldharbour Lane, it was suggested that disabled parking provision should be made so that this could be used more readily without the need to search for a parking place elsewhere

Ward Councillors spoke in support of the petitioners and agreed that Coldharbour Lane did suffer from severe parking problems and would benefit from the introduction of a residents parking scheme.

Councillor Burrows listened to the concerns of the petitioner and responded to the points raised:

Councillor Burrows noted residents had previously submitted a petition requesting residents’ parking which was heard in December 2008.  When this was considered, the decision was made for this section of Coldharbour Lane, Hayes be added to the Council’s Parking Programme so that statutory consultation could be carried out on a detailed design. 

A statutory consultation was carried out in February 2010 on a detailed design and stemming from this consultation two responses were received. It was noted that one resident had indicated support for a scheme whilst the other resident requested the current parking arrangements to remain unchanged. 

Cllr Burrows explained these responses were shared with local Ward Councillors and their considered view at the time was as there was no overall consensus, no further action should be taken due to the low number and split responses.

As a result, the Cabinet Member deferred a decision on the proposed parking scheme and asked officers to keep the area under review and report back if further support was received from residents. To avoid this from re-occurring, Cllr Burrows urged the petitioner to ensure residents responded to the future consultation.

It was noted that the petition submitted showed that residents (in this section of Coldharbour Lane) now supported the principle of a residents parking scheme by their homes.  Following further discussions with the petitioners the following decisions were taken:

That the Cabinet Member;

Resolved –

1.                              Meets and discusses with petitioners their concerns with parking in Coldharbour Lane, Hayes.

2.                  Subject to the outcome of the discussions with petitioners, approves the request  for a ‘resident only parking’ scheme for the northern end of Coldharbour Lane, Hayes be added to the Council’s Parking Programme so that as resources permit, statutory consultation can be carried out on detailed design indicated on Appendix B.

3.                  Instructs officers to look at the access issues for disabled people to the toilet at this location.