Many thanks Paul for this detailed report. See below
The most important point in my view comes at the end. The issue of how CPZ’s are consulted on and Haringey’s attempt to circumvent needing to doing them!
I was alarmed when I read Councillor Martin Newton’s letter in the Hornsey Journal yesterday, titled ‘Danger of bid to rush through parking zones’.
His letter warns of the implication such a change of policy will bring about.
Read it here http://www.greenn8.org.uk/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl/Blah.pl?m-1217586916/s-0/
(Martin Newton is the Liberal Democrat spokesman on transport and highways)
Best Wishes
Ofer
GreenN8 C o m m u n i t y G r o u p | http://www.GreenN8.org
From: Paul Soper
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:52:14 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Crouch End CPZ
A meeting was held tonight (on 31 July 2008) at Hornsey Central Library in Crouch End concerning the council's consultation exercise over a proposed CPZ in western Crouch End. A variety of council officers and councillors were present together with 20 representatives from Crouch End residents and community associations who formed a focus group that began to look at this process last October. Lynne Featherstone was present and the Council's executive was represented by chair for the evening, Cllr Brian Haley. Previous meetings had been chaired by Lynne Weber who seemed to be relegated to the sidelines for this evening's meeting. Local Traders were represented by the manager of Banners and Christopher Freeman of Dunns who formally represented Crouch End Traders.
Crouch End's proposed CPZ consultation stretches from Mountview Road to the South and over to the borders of the current Islington and Highgate CPZ's, and then north along Ferme Park Road towards Central Crouch End and beyond. It would be obvious that Mountview Road Road, Claremont Road and those areas bordering onto the existing Haringey and Islington CPZs would be in favour and this was indeed the outcome. Most other areas were not in favour of a CPZ and tellingly for the council, when the whole area was considered there was a clear majority opposed to the implementation of a CPZ. This creates a problem for the council, and the Lib Dem opposition, who have been in favour of a street by street implementation of CPZs. As pointed out, although no-one knew where the very first CPZ was implemented, it was clear that from it's imposition (in Westminster if my memory holds true) that it would spread through the whole of London. Islington is now wholly a CPZ and the imposition of a CPZ in that part of Mountview Road which lies in Islington was partly the catalyst for this consultation exercise which follows on from the consultations, apparently funded by TFL, in 2006 that focussed on parking around the stations of Hornsey and Harringay. That consultation led to the imposition of a CPZ around Ossian Road and Mount Pleasant Crescent sparked by Islington's CPZ and the existing Finsbury Park CPZ implemented by Haringey. There was clear evidence that the pretext for that consultation, commuter pressure on Harringay and Hornsey stations was an illusion.
Brian Haley, having been savaged in the course of the previous consultation exercise, which he inherited it must be said, was clearly not to be seen to be imposing a CPZ here even though there was clear support in those areas most affected by neighbouring CPZs and so the meeting was framed as bringing back to the residents' groups and other interested parties the result of the consultation; at no stage did Haley indicate what he would wish to see implemented, although Tony Kennedy, the council officer responsible did seem to indicate that extensions to the existing Highgate and Finsbury Park CPZs could be made to relieve the very clear pressure on those roads who are most affected. It is clear that this will lead to creeping imposition of CPZs as relief for Mountview and Claremont Roads, which they really, clearly, desperately need, but will cause pressure on neighbouring areas which will then need a CPZ and then so on. Haley did not want to be held responsible for this - however whilst his reticence is understandable a rather more worrying policy emerged.
It seems that it takes Haringey at least two years to carry out a detailed consultation exercise, leading to desperation for those roads most affected, but the alternative was presented as a new fast track solution, and an attempt was made to sucker Lib Dem councillors into a commitment to accept a "statutory consultation" as a first step solution to roads affected enabling them to be added to an existing CPZ. It was not explained to the meeting that a Statutory Consultation is the LAST STEP in the process of implementing a CPZ. It is the making of a statutory order for the imposition of a CPZ and whilst it technically allows interested parties a period of 21 days to make representations the first you will learn of it is a notice on a lampost if you read them, or a published notice in a local paper if you read them, and provided the council receives the representations they are under no legal obligation to act upon them as far as residents and traders are concerned. Otherwise you will learn of it when the control notices are published and you are invited to buy parking permits for yourself and your visitors. Haley asked the Lib Dem councillors present outright whether they supported this change of policy (his words) by the council. I'm not sure they really understood the implications for those directly affected and those indirectly affected.
If a CPZ is implemented, as seems likely, by extension of the existing Finsbury Park CPZ to include Mountview Road (and Highgate to include Claremont etc) it will be by the imposition of a statutory consultation, and although this will directly affect the parking situation in Ferme Park Road, Ridge Road, Nelson Road and Inderwick Road (my personal interest I shall confess) we will not be included in a statutory consultation unless we happen to see it in a local paper or live in the roads directly affected. We won't get a consultation document explaining how we might be affected, we will become aware of this when parking in our streets, although already difficult, becomes completely impossible as it will be when car hire firms in Kings Cross leave their surplus vehicles in our roads rather than Mountview where they are dumped at present, and all of the others who are looking for a free parking space - our roads will then be the closest free parking to central London! Imposition of a CPZ by statutory consultation, without normal consultation process, is not democratic in the slightest, but will be remarkably convenient for Haringey as it will short-circuit the existing process in favour of dealing expeditiously with the problems for roads where parking pressure is intolerable. Surely there must be a middle path, a consultation which observes democratic process, but which can be completed in less than the two years plus that current consultation process supposedly takes? Statutory consultation takes approximately seven months we are told, taking into account the decision to implement, the issue of the statutory notice and then 'evaluation' and implementation (I do not believe that any CPZ has ever been modified as a result of representations made at a Statutory Consultation - the last we saw was the implementation of Stop and Shop in Crouch End, or "Pay and Display" as Haley called it).
I did make a formal request to the meeting that IF a further consultation exercise takes place on the imposition of a CPZ, or extension of an existing CPZ, that our (Nelson, Inderwick and the others on the east of Ferme Park Road) roads are included in such a consultation as we are directly affected and within 100 yards or so of an area where it could easily be foreseen that a CPZ was likely to be implemented. I believe that our councillors, Stroud Green Ward, decided that they did not want us to be included in the Crouch End CPZ exercise, please correct me if I am wrong, and so the exercise was confined to Crouch End Ward as a political area, this makes little sense to me I must confess as we are so close to an area that would obviously vote yes to a CPZ. I did receive support in this request for future consideration from both Crouch End Ward councillor Lynne Weber and Lynne Featherstone.
The councillors and officers will now report back to the Haringey "Cabinet" on September 15th who will then decide how to proceed, although no officer or Haley would indicate whilst I was there exactly how they would proceed. My bet is an extension of the existing CPZs to help the roads who are most adversely affected, with the consequent pressure increasing on neighbouring roads including Inderwick and Nelson, with the consequential domino effect on other roads. Although Crouch End as a whole voted against the imposition of a CPZ the plight of the roads affected at present is dire and it is difficult to see how a 'democratic' decision of Crouch End as a whole can be imposed upon them (or us in 12 - 18 months time). We all know, and recognise I am sure, that the imposition of a CPZ is inevitable across the whole of Crouch End. The council are quite content to sit back, in the light of the botched job of the last consultation inspired by council officers and TFL, and pretend to be democratic and listen to what residents say BUT they have their own agenda here and moving to a "fast track" solution of moving directly to 'statutory consultation' simply means that the council's officers decide to impement a CPZ because they have one letter in support (as happened with the Crouch End and Muswell Hill Stop and Shop plans to which 95% of local businesses were opposed) and before you know where you are you have to pay to park outside your house.
The Inderwick Road group, to which this is primarily sent, have the various documents issued by Haringey in the Files section - if you receive this e-mail and haven't been aware of this, or the proposed and controvertial change of policy to move directly to statutory, please contact the councillors concerned.
One last point - Crouch End traders made a plea through the manager of Banners and Christopher Freeman of Dunns for as short an imposition of CPZ as possible - limited to one hour (Haringey consults on two hours as a minimum, although as an 'example" - areas like Mill Hill seem able to survice with a one hour restriction) with alternation on either side of the Broadway to minimise the damage to traders, and also asked for the car park behind the Library and Crouch End Town Hall to be opened to residents or essential employees of local traders. Although Haley has been prepared to discuss this before, and make reference to a policy of limiting the right of Town Hall and Library employees to make free use of this parking, tonight we were told that this is NOT in his remit and we should approach another cabinet member, Cllr Adje, who apparently controls this aspect of parking in Crouch End, so we couldn't even discuss a coherent parking policy for the whole of the area. Is it any wonder that residents are sceptical of this council's parking policy?
It is a shame that by calling this meeting for school holiday time the meeting was not attended by those on holiday which included reprentatives from the schools who are directly affected, St Peters, St Gildas and Coleridge - however it seems that council officers, who are never present during school holidays if you try to reach them, or so it seems, have an unfailing knack for scheduling these and similar meetings for school holidays - how does that happen?
Paul Soper - attending on behalf of Inderwick Road Committee, Hornsey Vale Residents and GreenN8 - we may be outside this consultation area but we are directly affected by it.
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