Parking problems

[Eagle]

Surely people could walk from home to nearest station.

I thought the ugly car park at Bell Green was free anyway , although must admit , thankfully
have not visited it for about 8 years or so.,

[robbieduncan]

Surely people could walk from home to nearest station.

I thought the ugly car park at Bell Green was free anyway , although must admit , thankfully
have not visited it for about 8 years or so.,

It is private property. It is free for using the shops. Not for using the train

[Bunty]

As the OP, and been off the forum a while, it frustrates me that after 6 months the problems are still there, ever increasing and it seems all of the local residents feel the same.
Please please log your interest in CPZ on the lewisham council website. Surely they need to take action soon. Sydenham is becoming one big car park.

[stuart]

Please please log your interest in CPZ on the lewisham council website. Surely they need to take action soon. Sydenham is becoming one big car park.

Done!
https://www.lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/ ... a-CPZ.aspx

Stuart

[gillyjp]

Yep - already lodged a request with LBL for a CPZ in Sydenham. However, the wheels of local government grind incredibly slow(ly) - especially if it's LBL. However, I cant fault them for clearing fly tipping when I report it on the Love Lewisham site. Has anyone noticed how bad that is getting these days locally? Better start a separate thread on this.........

[zara]

I would like to comment on this ongoing saga I do not want a cpz in this area. I live tredown end of wiverton road for many years and always find a space nearby. I have experience of a cpz and this does not guarantee a space outside your home usually lots more permits issued than spaces . charges go up every year and have to purchase visitors passes and need 2 if stay overnight and it is surprising how many you need. a few years ago residents voted not to have a cpz because of penge east. station.
also the yellow lines are so dustcarts and other large delivery vans can get round the corners. walking up tredown and homecroft around 8.45am most mornings,I always see spaces. if you need to drop off shopping etc do what I do stop in the road with hazard lights on and unload then drive off to a parking space no problem.

[Eagle]

Zara

I would imagine you are in Bromley .

I cannot agree re CPZ's but of course we each entitled to our opinion.

Bromley and Lewisham need to act together re The Venner Road/ Newlands Park area.

[Suzee]

I would like to comment on this ongoing saga I do not want a cpz in this area. I live tredown end of wiverton road for many years and always find a space nearby. I have experience of a cpz and this does not guarantee a space outside your home usually lots more permits issued than spaces . charges go up every year and have to purchase visitors passes and need 2 if stay overnight and it is surprising how many you need. a few years ago residents voted not to have a cpz because of penge east. station.
also the yellow lines are so dustcarts and other large delivery vans can get round the corners. walking up tredown and homecroft around 8.45am most mornings,I always see spaces. if you need to drop off shopping etc do what I do stop in the road with hazard lights on and unload then drive off to a parking space no problem.

Well I live on Tredown by Byne and totally disagree. Over the last 4 years we've been here parking has become particularly difficult. Being around during the week days the roads are very busy and parking becomes such a pain that I almost dread coming back home to find a space.
If you are out at work until the evening then you might not realise. I've recently had a constant stream of builders etc complaining daily about parking difficulties.
I know who the commuter and high street parkers are and I would love to see them gone.

I agree both Bromley and Lewisham need to be on board for this. I requested a CPZ with Lewisham last year but Bromley don't seem to want to hear about this kind of thing from residents.

[Eagle]

This morning about ten ish walked along Tredown , Homecroft , Upper Venner and Wiverton.

No spaces in Upper Venner or Tredown. One place in Homecroft , about 4 in Wiverton.

Urgent need of parking controls.

[Eagle]

Anna

You are quite correct .should be a joint LBL and LBB covering what the estate agents refer to as the Venner Road Toastrack.

[bensonby]

If you wanted a parking space why didn't you move to a house with a drive?

[Eagle]

Bensonby

In the area under discussion ( Venner Rd Toastrack ) there are very few drives and fortunately most gardens too small to
allow owners to rip up the garden and concrete it over.

This area built in Victorian and Edwardian times when cars were not known and the train was the reason the houses got built.


I agree not ideal to own a car if you live in this area. However there are examples . I know an elderly lady who lives in the area and relies on carers 4 times a day. They cannot park anywhere near and have a long walk.

No fun when people have parked all day to be near Penge East or Sydenham , no thought of local people.

[stuart]

... there are very few drives and fortunately most gardens too small to
allow owners to rip up the garden and concrete it over.

You don't need to concrete over to accommodate a car. There are many solutions which are visually and environmentally better - this is just an example: http://www.ecogrid.co.uk/applications/g ... surfacing/

So no excuse if you have room to get your car off the road onto your own land if possible so it can be returned to its proper purpose - a shared space which we can all use to play, walk or drive more safely and swiftly.

Stuart

[Eagle]

Stuart

I think you will find in Homecroft especially gardens are just not big enough to accommodate vehicles. Also gardens should be gardens , that is what partly makes Homecroft such a nice road.

Even if locals managed to get their cars in front gardens without controls selfish all day parkers will take up spaces.

[stuart]

Also gardens should be gardens , that is what partly makes Homecroft such a nice road.
Even if locals managed to get their cars in front gardens without controls selfish all day parkers will take up spaces.

Roads should be shared public spaces. Is it not anti-social to semi-permanently occupy a public space, inconvenience, slow, endanger without paying a penny for the space occupied? Better they sacrifice their front garden then take what isn't their's. Alternatively they could join a car club.

The good bit is the space vacated can't be occupied by incoming commuters as it is illegal to park across a dropped kerb and IME is generally respected. If they do then a phone call should get them ticketed or towed. So a win-win for re-creating an environment for traffic to flow better if the street is busy or kids to play if it isn't.

Stuart

[Eagle]

Sorry Stuart we beg to differ. When these roads were constructed they had front gardens .

With the gardens in tact the roads look OK. With gardens gone , front fences , walls gone , it is a mess.

[mosy]

I think the actual system shown in stuart's link of grassed grids is brilliant in principle as it allows drainage and is aesthetically pleasing. I expect it would still need planning permission though since parking in one's garden automatically commandeers the road space needed for access to it, thus effectively "claiming" part of what is supposed to be a public road. Anyone know the current rules?

[JRobinson]

I work in a highways department of another london borough, and if someone wants a dropped kerb/vehicle crossover they have to apply for one, then there is a site inspection to see if it's viable. if so, one is then built.
viability is dependent on several factors - do you have room on your private land for a parking space big enough for the vehicle in question? (so that it doesn't overhand onto the footway - blocking the footway is an offence), are there utilities under the pavement? (the pavement needs to be lifted and rebuilt structurally to make it strong enough to take vehicle access, else it will deteriorate a lot quicker, as general use pavement isn't strong enough for vehicles). Are there trees, drains, or lamposts nearby? - these might affect accessibility. Is the frontage of the property wide enough for the minimum width of dropped kerb?
There are many and varied other reasons why a dropped kerb application might not be agreed.

also - are there DYL, SYL or parking bays? - unlikely to lose a parking bay to let a resident park off street, but sometimes ok.
Section 86 of The Traffic Management Act 2004 - prohibits parking adjacent to a dropped curb in most instances, without the need for double or single yellow lines to be present.

[Eagle]

These posts seemed to have changed from controlled legal parking to destroying front gardens for the God Car .

The area in questions has not got large enough front gardens I in most cases ) to legally park a car , even before you take into account the destruction of lovely Victorian and Edwardian streets.

[mosy]

I see no harm in looking at other options to ease the problem and let's not forget that not all streets are the same. I'm less confident than you seem to be about the effectiveness of CPZs especially since some houses have several cars (especially if now flats) plus business can buy them too, so some houseowners will still not get a space. CPZs also benefit the better off so increasing the rich/poor divide despite living next door to each other.

Another possibility would be for TFL to change the travel zone border to further out where they do have front gardens and driveways/garages so that Sydenham stations weren't such drive-to targets to get the cheaper train travel rate. It'd make more sense to remove a main cause of the influx problem than try futilely to deal with the symptoms.