BUCKHURST HILL: Traders' fears for future after being excluded from parking review (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

BUCKHURST HILL: Traders' fears for future after being excluded from parking review

1:17pm Monday 30th January 2012 in Epping Forest News By Tom Porter

TRADERS in a shopping arcade claim that a sudden and unforseen steep rise in the number of commuters parking on their street could force them out of business.

In 2007 residents and traders in Station Way, Buckhurst Hill, were initially consulted over whether they wanted new parking restrictions imposed in their street as part of the district-wide, £1 million parking review.

The review was designed to resolve conflict between residents and commuters over parking spaces near tube stations.

At that point, Roding Valley London Underground Station was in Zone 5, and was not as frequently used by commuters as nearby Zone 4 stations so residents decided to opt out of the review.

However, the year after this, Roding Valley station was moved in to zone 4, and suddenly residents found their street packed with commuters, drawn to use the station by the sudden drop in the price of travelling from there.

With parking restrictions due to be imposed in streets surrounding Buckhurst Hill tube station in the coming months, residents now fear a another surge in the number of commuters using the station.

Jane Sandall, 57, who lives in Station Way, said: “When the review was first conducted we did not have any of these problems.

“Now you have cars parked together on both sides of the road so close that cars can hardly get down the road.

“The only thing that will keep that parade of shops going is if shoppers can pull up outside for five minutes.”

Tunde Sokoya, who runs the Easter Pharmacy in station Way, said: “Every day I have customers coming in and saying that they would pop in more frequently but there is no parking.

Vijay Chavda, 30, owns the Premier Convenience Store in Station Way.

He said: “I personally think the parking issue here is so bad it will lead to a desolate, empty row of shops.

“The fact that, for whatever reason, we are not in the parking review is a calamity. Somebody needs to take notice of how bad the problem is down here.”

An Essex County Council spokesman said: “Following the informal consultations held for roads in Buckhurst Hill, a formal consultation is expected to take place in the next financial year.

"No decision on the chosen roads in the formal consultation will be made until discussions have taken place and the proposals have been agreed with Epping Forest District Council”.

Click here to follow the Epping Forest Guardian on Twitter