Local businessman, Martin Herdman, of Herdman Carpets is angry.
Angry about traffic wardens and Council plans for double yellow lines in Crown Road.
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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,
- putting double yellow lines into crown road at various points.
- 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:
- re-route many bus services into the big shopping centres
- build traffic lights to allow easy access into the big stores
- give them very attractive rates
- 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:
- Taking massive business rates off us,
- Charging ridiculous amounts for waste disposal
- Constant harassment by traffic wardens
- Not providing enough parking for the 39 shops in crown road (19 bays) put in some 14 years ago, and totally outdated.
- 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
Comments
totally agree with martin this cannot be allowed to happen, will gladly help wity any petition or protest , lets go to war !
gary callaway on 2007-06-08 06:37:56 +0000Martin is right, we need to take positve action asap, count me in.
Fran Rees on 2007-06-08 08:47:06 +0000What is the process for registering objections by the June 21st cutoff ?
Mick on 2007-06-08 12:02:44 +0000We can't let our village and community be distroyed. It is up to all of us to object. There is no point in complaining after it has happened.
Emma on 2007-06-08 14:52:16 +0000The council is consulting on a plan to use double yellow lines to improve and sight lines for cyclists [and, of course, pedestrians] at the junction of Kings and Beaconsfield Roads with Crown Road. This is not some rustic backwater but part of a signed and numbered cycle route [#037] linking Twickenham Bridge and Richmond to Twickenham town centre via Twickenham Park and Amyand Park Road. It's not much used at present but there's no doubt that one of the many changes we're going to have to make to mitigate the effects of climate change will be a massive switch from motoring to cycling; this will only happen if cycling is perceived by novices to be becoming much safer than it now appears to be. Hence the importance of defining these routes and making them safe. I can see that the changes will be inconvenient for the traders directly affected, particularly in respect of deliveries. Maybe they can be modified to reduce the effect. Your ward councillors held surgeries in Winchester Hall two evenings this week so that they could hear from residents about their concerns. Did anyone go along to talk to them?
Chris Squire on 2007-06-08 18:41:39 +0000Chris,
Myself and many other traders went to one of the surgeries this week. We raised several issues with the councillors including the double yellow lines. The council has not thought this issue through and has admitted mistakes in the consultation. Many local residents and traders were missed of this consultation in error, the deadine has now been extended and more consultation forms sent out.
Could I also point out the following:
This proposal does NOT affect deliveries. There are no additional unloading restrictions. Traders can contuine to load/unload as per now. The proposal removes one pay and display bay and up to 14 overnight/Sunday parking spaces - this will affect residents and visitors in the area concerned and have a knock on effect to residents in other roads.
Your comment re:cycle safety - it should be noted that the council has confirmed that the number of recorded accidents, involving cyclists in the area in question, over the past year is zero. It should also be noted that the double yellow lines give a clear road and allow motorists to pick up speed. Trials in other London boroughs include removing double yellow lines and adding parking bays as a method of slowing traffic down.
Surely any concerns regarding road safety should be targeted towards the genuine accident blackspots in St.Margarets.
Chris you state that the cycle route is not used much at present, I totally agree and point out that the parking spaces are used. At the time of writing this there are six cars (at least three I know are residents) parked in the spaces in question, oh and another space is taken up by a load of barriers and bollards dumped there last Tuesday - another issue for the council.
simon chapman on 2007-06-08 23:55:12 +0000It seems to me that double yellow lines will make it more not less dangerous for cyclists as then cars just race past. At the moment cars have to stop and give way to oncoming trafic.
Louise on 2007-06-09 20:37:53 +0000It seems to me that double yellow lines will make it more not less dangerous for cyclists as then cars just race past. At the moment cars have to stop and give way to oncoming trafic.
Louise on 2007-06-09 20:37:59 +0000I run the Timothy Graham Gallery at no.46 Crown Road, and can hardly believe that people get paid by us to think up such ridiculous schemes. How many meetings did this one take and at what cost?
How many cyclists use this junction? Does anyone know? It would surely be much safer should the odd cyclist wish to go to Richmond, to go along Amyand Park Road and cross the traffic at the pedestrian lights by the station.
We lost some loading space when the pedestrian crossing was put in Crown Road. As a gallery we rely on large deliveries of large sheets of glass for our picture framing department and as it is suppliers complain about the lack of parking spaces as they are not allowed to walk along the street carrying this glass. If we don't get glass, we can't frame pictures so we'll be out of business immediately. Its hard enough around here with customers and delivery drivers being chased around by traffic wardens together with the plethora of parking restrictions and parking scratch cards (another half-witted idea) without our so-called public servants trying to make it even more difficult to keep business going.
There is a tendency in this country now to criminalize the law-abiding by the introduction of petty rules and restrictions and allow the real criminals to walk the streets unchecked.
Thank you for your attention.
Linda English on 2007-06-09 21:16:30 +0000The Council are basically anti-car, as proven by the decision to ride rough-shod over objections to charging for parking permits on the basis of emmissions. They knew full-well that it is hugely expensive and impractical for people to simply change their car. I am a cyclist as well as a driver but believe that double-yellows to protect cyclists is a huge over-reaction. All we have to do is stop at the Crown Rd junction to check for traffic rather than sail blindly on - or use the crossing a few feet away. Crown Rd businesses rely on passing trade and that means short-term parking bays. Also, at night there are insufficient resident bays for Crown Rd, Napoleon Rd etc and residents depend on the current bays and single yellows for everyday parking. The sooner we vote the LibDem chumps out the better.
David Bonney on 2007-06-10 13:04:17 +0000Does someone know how to register an objection to this proposal?
Richard Forrest on 2007-06-10 22:01:58 +0000Richard, good question. The consultation was only sent out to selected addresses (wonder why?) for example about a third of the residents in Beaconsfield Road have been consulted, but the removal of overnight parking spaces will affect the entire road because anybody who can not park at the top of the road will park further down and so on. The council have now sent out more consultation letters and extended the deadline for return. BUT the council has still not consulted all those concerned (e.g. all of Beaconsfield Road). The traders are compiling a list of concerned residents who would like to be included in the consultation an will be passing this onto Councillor Khosa this week. Richard if you would like to be added to the list please call into Cutters or Zorans in Crown Road and leave you details.
simon chapman on 2007-06-10 23:03:17 +0000The simplest way to deal with the issue of cyclists being able to cross the road there is to dispense with the current Zebra crossing, and instead put a traffic light controlled crossing outside the Curry Inn, with a bike light, similar to that a few hundred feet further along the cycle route at the St Margarets crossing
I use that cycle route, and do find it a dangerous crossing because the corner is often obstructed. But that is not a reason to reduce the parking in Crown Road.
Can a deal not be struck with the owners of the St Margarets to allow 30 minute shopper parking at certain times, funded out of our Council tax, of course? I am an enormous supporter of our local shops, and we are really lucky to still have some, so we need to find ways of increasing their trade.
Crown Road does get very congested, but that is partly because of a lack of parking spaces, not a superfluity of them, as people have a tendency to leave their cars in crazy places, on the basis that if you are going to get a ticket, you might as well get one when you are parked somewhere that is convenient for you.
Perhaps the top end of Crown Road needs to be one way, with parking and loading done of the side the shops are currently on, leaving the pub side clear. This ought to increase the available area for loading and parking
Wider use of one way systems in St Margarets would reduce traffic congestion overall, make junctions safer, and ease the flow of traffic through. Often the right turn into Amyand Park Road makes the Richmond bound traffic stop completely, as people cannot squeeze past (The council did propose a one-way on Amyand Park Road a few years ago, which was opposed by a number of residents as the necessary land restriction at the top of APR would cut down on parking spaces. The council dropped the one-way, but cut narrowed the road anyway!)
Nigel Cannings on 2007-06-11 15:23:18 +0000Confusing collisions-involving-cycles-for-one-year and the number-of-cycles that could be using the road seems a fudge, and won't help deliver more trade.
Over focus on the official cycle route isn't much help either.
In 2004 the largest cycle shelter (for 90 bikes) placed in a school in London was - guess where - Orleans Park. And within weeks it was packed. Perhaps it will be doubled one day. Probably some of these kids use Crown Road to get there. And why shouldn't there be more?
Councillors are most likely to take a balanced view of all uses of the road, and parking cars is slipping down in importance these days. Casualties are much higher.
Maybe traders could propose alternative ideas to Council that increase their trade and look after youngsters etc instead of battling the way the world is heading.
Steve Doole on 2007-06-12 22:10:45 +0000Yesterday as I drove through outer Kingston I saw that they have introduced on side streets one hour free parking bays - which can ONLY be used for parking up to one hour. Perhaps a solution here?
Trevor Whittall on 2007-06-24 21:43:07 +0000Add a comment