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Local businessman, Martin Herdman, of Herdman Carpets is angry.

Angry about traffic wardens and Council plans for double yellow lines in Crown Road.

Click on the image to read a larger version.

What do you think?

Update: click ’Continue reading … ’ to read a letter from Martin

Basically the council in their wisdom have put forward a proposal, we the traders and residents have until the 21st june 2007 to register any objections, hardly any time at all. After this date they propose to go ahead with,

  1. putting double yellow lines into crown road at various points.
  2. taking away much needed parking bays.

The local traders are up in arms about these ridiculous plans. We need more parking for our customers, (not less), and the scary thing about double yellow lines is the fact that they are a disaster for any business and community, You just have to look at East Twickenham or Richmond Hill, no one can park, and trade is a dead zone there. Many shops are empty and have been for ages. Nobody stops and talks to each other, not too many local passers by, no spirit left in the street. the sighns of a community in decline.

But at the same time the local authorities are making it almost impossible for the small business shopkeepers to stay alive. But they quite merrily:

  1. re-route many bus services into the big shopping centres
  2. build traffic lights to allow easy access into the big stores
  3. give them very attractive rates
  4. create loading bays (like our local tesco store), where busses and all traffic find it almost impossible to pass by,

It is quite clearly a joke, but the joke is on us, if we sit still and do nothing, we will in the not too distant future loose the wonderful community that st Margaret’s has become. Our small business are an integral part of the community, and the local council continue to make it difficult for us to exist by:

  1. Taking massive business rates off us,
  2. Charging ridiculous amounts for waste disposal
  3. Constant harassment by traffic wardens
  4. Not providing enough parking for the 39 shops in crown road (19 bays) put in some 14 years ago, and totally outdated.
  5. Instead they propose to scare off customers with double yellow lines, and the all too familiar sight of traffic wardens.

At the moment the single yellow lines are used by residents in the evening to try and park, (as the permit system is showing signs of decay). The rest of st Margaret’s and surrounding area is soon to become permit parking as well.
I can see that very soon the council will have a monopoly as to where and when we can park. (i.e. we pay to park illegally, or legally — its a great business to do people with).

At the moment we don’t usually see wardens in crown road on saturdays or sundays, this is not because its a safer place to be at the weekend, or that congestion is any less at the weekend, (no) its because parking bays are free at the weekend, so basically there is no money for them to prize out of the unsuspecting motorist.

This will change as soon as double yellow lines are put in, wardens will be camped out in crown road 24/7.

The council will tell you these new plans are to make it safer for cyclists in the area, if this is so then my name is really Father Christmas,
If you have the time, check with the local authorities and find out how many cyclist have been injured in crown road in the past year, you will find that NOT ONE cyclist has been hurt in this road in the last year.

So what is the real reason for these plans, I would suggest SHEER GREED, Probably to get as much money out of the public as possible, probably to make up for all the many costly, stupid schemes that have gone wrong before.

And if we do nothing, we can expect nothing.
I hope you can do something for your community,
BE HEARD, don’t just roll over and let it happen.

Martin Herdman