Wansteadium

Breaking a self-imposed rule to say no more about parking for a while, we should note there is one point really worth registering from Friday’s public meeting which was attended by council leader Cllr Jas Athwal.
At the meeting he explicitly overruled the statement made by Cllr John Howard last Wednesday in which he said roads south of Redbridge Lane West, which includes Warren Road, St Mary’s Ave and Overton Drive among others, would not now be included in the parking scheme.
Cllr Athwal said everything was now back on the table and would be subject to the full consultation – so residents of those roads who might have been breathing a sigh of relief will have to engage with the consultation like everyone else when it happens.

Redbridge Council has announced that it will, after all, conduct a “full and thorough detailed consultation” into its parking plans for Wanstead. It’s the second change in two days to the council’s proposals and followed a partial alteration which was announced on Wednesday. The results of the consultation will be published in their entirety, the council has promised.

The council statement reads:

[su_panel background=”#dddcdd” border=”1px none #cccccc” shadow=”0px 0px 0px #eeeeee”]Council announces changes to Wanstead parking plans after listening to residents

After listening to residents the Council Leader has announced it will be making changes to the parking plans that were set to be introduced in Wanstead in February. Our initial approach was to present a scheme to residents, take on feedback and make changes to the scheme so that a balanced approach could be found that works for residents, businesses and commuters. Further feedback over a period of up to 18 months would have been sought before the final scheme was consulted on as part of making any scheme permanent. Upon further reflection; and having listened to residents at both the Neighbourhoods Service Committee and at Cabinet, we have decided to carry out a full and thorough detailed consultation, with the results published in their entirety. Further information on the consultation will be sent to Wanstead residents in the coming weeks.[/su_panel]

The new position seems to Wansteadium to be a complete victory for those Wanstead campaigners – and, to be frank, this website – who were demanding a consultation take place.

On Monday our (first ever) editorial said:

Unless Redbridge Council undertakes to do the proper consultation, it’s hard to avoid the suspicion that this scheme is nothing to do with improving parking – it’s simply an easy way to raise cash for the council. For a political party to do that in an area where it doesn’t stand to make significant electoral losses would just be shabby. It’s time to show that that’s not the case.

As far as Wansteadium can see, this is everything we were asking for.

The #WeWantSay campaigners welcomed the announcement and have issued a letter in response to the council announcement and will proceed with tonight’s meeting at the Scout Hall.

We have responded to @Jas_Athwal @RedbridgeLive setting out our expectations on consultation & design of scheme. #WEWANTSAY @Wansteadium pic.twitter.com/8CrwduS2Hx

— WeWantSay (@WeWantSay) January 13, 2017

Redbridge Council has backed down on the full extent of its dramatic plans to change parking restrictions in Wanstead, and is promising some consultation. But there are many unanswered questions to which they must provide answers before Wanstead residents will know if they are serious about having listened to the protests.

Here are some which spring to mind. Wansteadium readers should feel free to add them via the comments field (or contact us on info@wansteadium.com).

1. When will you publish the details of the revised proposals including timings of restrictions and maps of streets where they will operate?
2. How meaningful can your consultation be with just an extension of four weeks before the scheme starts?
3. This time will you be holding public meetings to consult on the proposal?
4. How will any further amendments which may be suggested be agreed and implemented in time before the March start date?
5. Will the installation of 800 poles around Wanstead at a cost of £93k be halted pending the consultation?
6. Will poles which have already been installed, in places such as in Overton Drive, but where the restrictions will not now apply, be removed?
7. Is your amended plan also on an “experimental” basis or are you implementing this scheme in the proper manner, as specified in this House of Commons briefing note?
8. How will the council be monitoring the impact on shops on Wanstead High Street? Will it undertake now to be open and transparent about any findings it might make? [This question remains unanswered since we first asked it in December.]
9. How will success or failure of the scheme be judged?
10. How much has Redbridge made from parking charges and fines from drivers in Wanstead? Where does the money go, and will the council undertake to be open and transparent about the increased sums it will raise through this scheme? [This question remains unanswered since we first asked it in December.]
11. Will the council undertake not to include the £93k expenditure on poles and infrastructure in its decision about the success of the trial? [This question remains unanswered since we first asked it in December.]
12. How are people who, for whatever reason, don’t have a mobile phone going to park on the High Street?

 

Redbridge Council has – sort of – backed down over its unconsulted parking plans which would have dramatically changed parking rules across Wanstead.

The council is reducing the area which will be subject to residents’ restrictions, and it now intends to do a consultation on the plans. The start of the scheme will be delayed for a month until March while this takes place.

Under the revised plans, pay and display restrictions will still apparently be introduced on the High Street, but residents’ restrictions will now not be introduced on roads south of Redbridge Lane West (Warren Road, St Mary’s Ave and Overton Drive and others). A statement published on the council website says: “Other roads such as Grove Park and The Avenue are now proposed to have a mixture of pay and display and residents’ permit spaces.”

No further detail is given, but the new plan will be delayed while consultation takes place. Cllr John Howard, responsible for the scheme, said: “We’ve come at this project with an open mind. We want to find a parking solution that is right for the area, that deals with the present and future pressures on parking spaces but also takes into account the needs of businesses, residents and shoppers. As part of our continued commitment to listen to our residents we will once again be writing to people in the affected area and making them aware of the changes.”

Opposition to the council’s scheme was mounting, with 2,281 people signing a petition demanding proper consultation take place.

Wansteadium readers have been at the forefront of tackling the process the council was using.

• Reader ArrGee pointed out that the council was breaching its own parking strategy document which committed it to “provide a fair and consistent approach to the way we manage parking, while sustaining long term economic, social, and environmental well-being for everyone.”
• Reader Fin highlighted that a House of Commons Briefing Note SN6013 said that traffic regulation orders “(whether temporary, experimental or permanent) are only to be used for single streets (not more widely)“.
• Fin also pointed out that secretary of state guidance on the Right to Challenge Parking Policies states: “[P]arking strategies cannot simply be about restricting parking. They need to meet the best interests of road users, communities and businesses. Inappropriate parking rules, over-zealous enforcement and high parking charges drive people out of town centres, push up the cost of living, harm local shops and make it harder for people to park responsibly and go about their everyday lives.” It adds: “[L]ocal traffic authorities should consult as widely as is necessary to ensure that all of those affected by the orders have the opportunity to comment…by putting in place a petition scheme that allows people and businesses to raise petitions about the parking restrictions in place for a specified location”.

Some of these points were included in a motion tabled for discussion by the Conservative group at next week’s full council meeting which reads in part: “This Council further agrees to request Cabinet to ensure that all future parking schemes will involve full consultation as outlined in the Parking Strategy and that it will not in the future use the device of a ‘experimental scheme’ to circumvent the requirement for consultation with local residents.”

Leaders of the parking action group will now need to take stock over the revised proposals and see whether they meet their demands over consultation.

Just some of the spots where 800 poles will be inserted into Wanstead pavements to announce the new parking restrictions. Nice work if you can get it. Economist John Maynard Keynes said “the government should pay people to dig holes in the ground and then fill them up” as a way to stimulate the economy. Could this be why Redbridge’s parking plan has been tabled as part of a “budget” proposal rather than a “highways” one?

In other parking news, this unfortunate scheduling clash has been brought to our attention. While some residents will be taking part in the only public meeting being held about parking, on Friday night at the Scout Hall, in Wanstead Library a completely different meeting will be taking place.

UPDATE: ArrGee writes at his relief on hearing the white rings were for poles. He thought they were evidence of Mysterons.

In the eight years of this website, we have never taken a political line on any subject, except perhaps the welfare of hedgehogs. There are plenty of issues we care about – a healthy balance of shops in the High Street, for example – but no overtly political positions.

That is until today. We’re breaking with tradition to take a very clear position about the proposals for changes to the parking rules for Wanstead.

Redbridge Council must back down now and do the proper consultation on these proposals which it should have done in the first place.

We know that opinions on the matter among Wansteadium readers are divided, and that there are pros and cons to the proposals. For example, having a mechanism to stop people parking all day long on the High Street while they walk to the Tube to go to Westfield would, in our view, be a good thing. But stopping people parking on roads as far away from the High Street as Overton Drive does not appear to have been thought through.

But regardless of pros and cons, what seems to unite nearly everyone is outrage at the way the proposals are being imposed on Wanstead with no opportunity for debate or consultation. The leader of the council, Cllr Jas Athwal, who has up until now struck us as a fairly decent sort of bloke, seems to be revelling in his outright refusal to consider any form of consultation.

Pretty much the first thing the Labour administration did on taking control of Redbridge Council following the elections in 2014 was to scrap the system of area committees. These were bi-monthly meetings at which residents in Redbridge boroughs could listen to and question their own local councillors and council officers. The committees were replaced with a series of inadequate borough-wide forums at which there is no opportunity for Wanstead residents to question Wanstead councillors or council officers about Wanstead issues.

Previous attempts at parking reform were just the kind of subjects that were discussed at these meetings – and of course people felt strongly about them. Cllr Athwal’s verdict? The “Tories… just wilted under pressure from residents – that is something I will not do”.

But with no meaningful local meetings, no consultation, and no debate, it does make one wonder if Cllr Athwal would be so reckless in an area which had more than just a couple of Labour councillors?

We have just one question for him: what do you have to lose by doing a consultation in the proper manner? The proposals might even be improved by some public debate – after all, the 0930-1030 “residents only” parking restriction in Wanstead streets came as the direct result of a suggestion at an area committee. Wansteadium knows, because we were there when it happened.

Unless Redbridge Council undertakes to do the proper consultation, it’s hard to avoid the suspicion that this scheme is nothing to do with improving parking – it’s simply an easy way to raise cash for the council. For a political party to do that in an area where it doesn’t stand to make significant electoral losses would just be shabby. It’s time to show that that’s not the case.