SOUTH WOODFORD: Parking permits worth it, residents say (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

SOUTH WOODFORD: Parking permits worth it, residents say

12:34pm Tuesday 7th February 2012 in Redbridge News By Clare Hardy

PERMIT parking is working in the streets where it is well-established, despite the lack of support for expanding the scheme, according to residents.

Out of 50 roads where residents were asked if they wanted to be included in South Woodford’s controlled parking zone (CPZ), people living in just four – Radley’s Lane, Lincoln Road, High Road and Woodford Road – voted to be included in the scheme.

But Tom Jennings, 57, who lives within the existing CPZ in Bedford Road, said the £55.75 cost of an annual residents’ parking permit was worth it.

“It’s definitely a good thing,” he added. “Some of the parking here is set aside for pay and display, and some is for business, so parking spaces for private housing are essential.”

He said cars and vans without permits sometimes parked in residents’ spaces, but they always seemed to get hit with parking fines.

“I would prefer not to convert my front garden into a parking space, so I’m happy to pay for a permit,” he added.

Chris Jones, 55, of Orford Road, which is also inside the CPZ, said its boundaries seemed to have reached their limit.

“People further away from the station probably don’t have the same problems as we have,” he added. “We set up a residents’ association several years ago and this was one of the things we addressed.

“We were having a problem with commuters coming in and parking around here, when they were going into town from South Woodford.

“My wife is a teacher and she would come back around tea time and couldn’t even park in our own street.”

A fresh consultation on the the locations of yellow lines and parking bays, the hours the CPZ is in place and the possibility of splitting the zone into more than one area is due to take place this month.

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