This petition opposes Lewisham Council’s plans to implement paid “Permit Parking” at an average cost to residents of £165 per year, plus costs and restrictions to visitors and tradespeople. The Council proposes a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) in the area described below, designated by the council as Drakefell Road 1 and Drakefell Road 2, as it will have a detrimental effect on most of the residents and their visitors within the area proposed for the scheme and also those on adjoining streets.

The streets directly affected by the proposals are:

• Drakefell Road
• Gellatly Road
• Kitto Road
• Vesta Road
• Pendrell Road
• Pepys Road (southern section)
• Wallbutton Road
• Sprules Road
• Endwell Road
• Millmark Grove
• Shardeloes Road
 
Adjoining roads likely to be affected by displacement parking but not able to participate in the previous consultation include:

• Arbuthnot Road
• Bousfield Road
• Waller Road
• Erlanger Road
• Jerningham Road
• Reservoir Road
• Sandbourne Road
 

In the consultation earlier this year only 301 residents made comments about parking and “[r]esidents near Brockley Station raised concerns about too many commuters and commercial vehicles taking up car parking bays…”.  The Council’s response with a widespread imposition of a CPZ shows a huge gap and lack of concern and understanding of the real issues facing its residents in these two localites. In the analysis it is stated that “[r]esidents in the centre east of the Brockley area, who did not report parking issues, will not be included”. Nevertheless thousands of residents in the roads above who also did not report parking issues have been included.

Why is this important?

The CPZ does not:

• Address safety, the main concern for many residents.
• Propose safe crossing points for school children (notably for children crossing to access Haberdashers’ Hatcham Free School and Haberdashers’ Hatcham School from Drakefell Road).
• Tackle dangerous driving behaviours (particularly from those using local roads as “rat runs”).
• Enhance safety provision for pedestrians and cyclists.
 

Instead this scheme:

• Imposes additional costs on residents in the middle of a cost of living crisis, exacerbating inequality as it amounts to a flat rate tax. It will affect those receiving clients at home as well as those needing tradespeople for home maintenance. 
• Increases bureaucracy and stress for residents.
• Reduces parking spaces available.
• Increases isolation, stress and expense for single, elderly and disabled people who rely both on visitors and on the informal carers who plug the huge gaps in Social Care.
• Creates unnecessary stress for residents and visitors as parking spaces are reduced and people scramble for space. 
 

This area is very neighbourly and has a wonderful community feel. We are voicing our disappointment that the Council has failed to invest time and effort in bringing a proposal forward to tackle the real local issues, particularly those of safety, simply including it in part of the roll-out of borough-wide proposals. While we recognise that 301 people have said they find parking difficult, to impose an expensive “solution” that will have an adverse effect on thousands is iniquitous.

We strenuously and collectively reject the CPZ and commit to blocking it by any means necessary. We call for proposals that genuinely and comprehensively address our local safety issues.