CONCERNED: Steve Eaton

Barkingside parking charges will be ‘nail in the coffin’

By Zjan Shirinian , Chief Reporter Sunday, February 13, 2011
9:00 AM

A NAIL will be hammered into Barkingside’s coffin if councillors agree to introduce Sunday parking charges, it is being claimed.

Traders in High Street are convinced the move will drive more people away from their businesses and to shopping centres in Ilford, Stratford and Lakeside.

And they have already collected more than 1,200 signatures from shopkeepers and customers, urging a town hall u-turn on the proposal.

The charges, proposed as part of cost-savings for the 2011/12 budget, also include early morning and evening charging in car parks and in pay and display bays.

John Milburn, director of Fullwell Cycle & Auto, High Street, said: “It’s going to ruin our businesses.

“If people can’t get to shops in their cars, they won’t come.

“The council doesn’t seem to know that.”

He added: “People are charged every day of the week for parking. What’s wrong with having one day when they can park for free?”

In October, a three-month pilot scheme was rolled out letting drivers park in High Street for 20 minutes for just 20p.

But traders say parking is still a major issue for the area.

Barkingside Business Partnership chairman Steve Eaton, who owns Eaton Hair in High Street, said: “Barkingside is already struggling, we just don’t need this.”

Describing it as a “nail in the coffin”, Mr Eaton – who said about half of High Street businesses are open on Sunday – added: “All they’re trying to do is close Barkingside down.”

A Redbridge council report on the proposals – which suggest a 7am-7pm charging period with some exceptions – says the changes will “improve safety and reduce congestion associated with current lack of controls on Sunday especially”.

It estimates making £90,000 in 2011/12, and £120,000 each financial year after that.

Backing the petition, independent Fullwell ward Cllr Harold Moth said: “Over recent months, long established shops have closed, and they blame parking policy as an important factor.”

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3 comments

I thought Local Councils & the Government were suppose to be cutting waste and making efficiencies and not just charging more to preserve themselves. The Council is forgetting it is there to serve tits residents both commercial and domestic. I have lived in the borough since 1987 and have seen a steady decline in the quality and variety of shops in the high street and things are getting worse. Parking is almost impossible and I have even been given parking tickets when parked legally and then had to go through the appeals process to get the tickets cancelled. It really is looking like a war of the state versus the people - when it should be the state acting for the people! If the council really want to help the High street to survive parking should be made easier ( parking fees should be scrapped altogether - and yellow lines removed from all but strategically important places) . This should save at least the £100K in parking management costs which through putting up parking charges. The additional footfall of shoppers should also attract more businesses into the area thus bring increasing prosperity in general. Discounts on rates should also be offered to businesses that bring something new to the area. I really hope the councillors and powers that be do something positive to help the borough rather than continue sucking the life out of it and sucking money out of the people living here. And finally - please re-widen the approach roads to Gants Hill roundabout and close down the council & govenment Traffic creation departments. That should be another worthwhile and substantial saving.

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Nick Stassi

Friday, February 18, 2011
Another reason why Sunday parking will cause hardship is because the car park is used by many people, including pensioners, who then travel onward by other means of transport for a day away.

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ShirleyM

Monday, February 14, 2011
Whichever council jobsworth made the reported comments about congestion clearly does not come within 10 miles of Barkingside on a Sunday. Moreover, Barkingside High Street became congested on other days only after the implementation of the ludicrous and expensive TfLRedbridge "bus priority scheme". Far from giving buses priority, it simply locks them into the general mayhem that is Barkingside traffic 2011. "It is shabby, run down, and badly in need of a face lift" (Councillor Mrs Linda Huggett at a Redbridge cabinet meeting in September 2007). How much have they spent on it? Zilch! These latest proposals will simply kill it off.

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Morris Hickey

Sunday, February 13, 2011