Grove Park CPZ to be rejected

Consultation shows majority of residents against

Councillors at a forthcoming meeting will be presented with the results of a consultation which shows overwhelming opposition to the proposal for a Controlled Parking Zone in the Grove Park Area.

The recommendation of a report by Council Officers into the scheme is that no action should be taken but that residents should be consulted again on the matter within two years if funds can be secured for the scheme.

At a previous Chiswick Area Planning Committee (CAPC) meeting, Councillors considered a report on representations received from local residents about parking problems and agreed that consultation should be undertaken in the Grove Park area. Some 1,800 consultation documents were distributed around the area with only 150 responding that they felt a CPZ should be introduced and 400 against. The results show a slight swing in favour of the CPZ from a previous consultation on the matter that was made in 2002.

On a street by street basis only 5 roads voted in favour of the CPZ. They were Elmwood Road, Harvard Hill, Falcon Close and Nightingale Close. Of these roads only a handful of people voted with the exception of Elmwood Road where 25 people were in favour and 11 against.

The report on the consultation does acknowledge that the introduction of a CPZ in the Stile Hall Area could displace traffic to the Grove Park area and therefore suggested that the issue be revisited once the full effects become apparent.

The consultation also gave residents the opportunity to comment on traffic calming measures for the area. There were a number of requests for traffic calming to slow the speed of traffic. whilst others complained of ‘rat-running’ through the area particularly to and from the A4 by way of Harvard Hill. Many complained about excess parking and traffic congestion caused by ‘the school run’ in the immediate area of Falcons School in Burnaby Gardens.

The proposed CPZ would have been in a area roughly in a triangle between the A4, Park Road and the railway line.

September 6, 2005