Clock House CPZ Scheme Beckenham Starts 5th October - News & Questions!

[Jon Clarke]

The ongoing CPZ (Controlled Parking Zone) saga continues this week with some roads and not all, as of this moment I'm reliably informed, receiving the Final CPZ notice and Application Form for a Residential Parking permit and Application Form for Visitors Vouchers. The start date is to be the 5th October for all three zones.

First let's get the bugs out of the way - the councillors will be reading this, so hopefully they can take appropriate action and report back quickly with binding answers.

On the Implementation Form/Map it says that if the residents would like to read the report of the important Residents Meeting of the 14th July 2009 it is on their website at http://www.bromley.gov.uk/transportprojects - this link currently just points to an error page and therefore needs fixing.

The second bug/error that needs a clear answer is that the Implementation form says ‘ Pay and Display parking bays will operate between 10.00am and 12.00 Noon, Monday to Friday. If necessary these bays can also be used by residents/visitors displaying a valid permit.’ However, the accompanying Bromley Council official application form for the Parking Permit states that under the sections ‘Condition of use for you, the permit holder’ – 5/ Parking places – A permit does not enable you to park in permitted parking zones that display signs for a zone different to that indicated on the permit, or on a yellow line waiting restriction, and not in pay and display or metered bays. I can see permit holders being ticketed by traffic wardens who don’t know about the earlier not so formal form’s lettering and then residents having to fight the payments department over it.

The third question needing answered was the assumption and what was thought was agreed at the public residents summer meeting by the councillors that the Zone 1 initial payment would be only 50% whilst the scheme runs the first 6 months before the promised re-survey – the officlal form now says it will be only discounted 40% from £75 per car to £45.

The Final point is that the rush is on, all their forms state that they need 21 days to process the Resident & Visitor permits, and as the deadline day for when traffic wardens start to patrol (hopefully) and ticket is the 5th October. As of yesterday when we received our form that gives us, hm! no spare days and today -1 day to find all the many pieces of paperwork required and sent off to the council offices for process. Why the hurry all of a sudden, there hasn’t even been any notices about road line painting? Why can’t the council do this in a mannered and timely fashion? Put the start to November?

That was going to be the final point, but one last point to make is that I’d hoped the leaflet, map, wording and forms would all be online at Bromley Council’s website, but once again they are not. Perhaps they might do this or I’ll be looking for a working scanner once again to put the docs on here for all those in and those especially on the periphery of the scheme and outside to know what’s going on.

All those points we await answers and action on.

Moving on, whether we like it or not we have a CPZ, but we were all given categorical assurances that it would be resurveyed after 6 months. So when does it start? Well the leaflet and map state ‘The scheme will be implemented in late September 2009. Information leaflets and warning letters will be issued for the first two weeks of enforcement. Full enforcement of the restrictions will commence on 5th October 2009.

The CPZ will in nearly all cases be a continuous bay type up and down the road, so one is able to park across one's front drive if one wants, but if you do within the times of the zone operation you will need to display your permit. It does also mean that you are entitled to park across someone elses driveway entrance (but hey neighbours we wouldn’t do that now would we?) , but also if you block someone in, then the traffic warden can ticket that car. (Slight issue here or question. How will the traffic warden know which permitted car across someone's drive is owned by that house owner or perhaps his friendly neighbour or a complete rogue from 5 doors away? Another one for the clarification list perhaps).

So what are the lovely costs?

Zone 1 Normal Annual Cost £75 per vehicle, Discount Cost £45, Discount Ends 30th April 2010
Zone 2 & 3 Normal Annual Cost £35 per vehicle
Visitors Permits all zones £30 for book of 15 permits (4 books per house ONLY per year) Possible cost £120 for 60 tickets!

Parking Bay Charges All Zones £2.00* The pay and display cost is for the complete hours of operation of the bay for a day or any portion therof. Payment can also be made before 10.00am.
So if you don’t buy visitor permits then get to those parking bays quick! Wonder who will park their permitted car in there and then swap it for a friend's car when the friend needs it....?

Residents over 60 get a little break – they can get Free Visitors Vouchers but must send proof when applying which can include one of the following 1/ a copy of current Freedom Pass and photo card, 2/ a driving licence (paper or photo card) (I expect they mean copy of this and the rest), 3/ letter of pension entitlement, 4/birth certificate if it shows your current name, 5/ current passport, 6/ medical card

I’ll endeavour to scan and attach or if need be type out all the blurb asap. But, if you need a permit be quick, there are several payment options and they also take cheque or postal orders made out to ‘London Borough of Bromley’.

If you need any urgent forms, questions answered, advice then here are the contact details.

Parking Permit Team
London Borough of Bromley
PO Box 313
Bromley
BR1 3GL

Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
http://www.bromley.gov.uk/parking

Off to give my drive up to a needy neighbour during the day and still unhappy at how this has been so mismanaged and bulldozed through by the Council. Let the new tax begin, like we could all do with another payment for something that was once free!

Do forward this page on to your neighbours, school parents and friends, and those outside the zones.

And for the latest info for those who Twitter do follow us on http://Twitter.com/Beckenham where we bring you all the latest local news and help, answer a myriad of questions, plus add some entertainment along the way.

Cheers

JC

[Anthony Phillips]

I'm not convinced that these are the council's primary motivators, it will be a while before any return is seen on the cost on the implementation and unhappy residents are not beneficial either.

Personally I could have taken or left the CPZ, I agree with Paul in that it wasn't that bad previously. However if we want the situation improved or removed I can only suggest working with the Council and the local councillors, if the majority of people want this changed then this will happen. To do this local residents and commuters will have to actively pull together and discuss this constructively (and there are a lot of good points being made) with those behind the scheme. Unless those involved do this their voice will not be heard.

[Paul Miller]

Anthony Phillips said:

I'm not convinced that these are the council's primary motivators, it will be a while before any return is seen on the cost on the implementation and unhappy residents are not beneficial either.

Personally I could have taken or left the CPZ, I agree with Paul in that it wasn't that bad previously. However if we want the situation improved or removed I can only suggest working with the Council and the local councillors, if the majority of people want this changed then this will happen. To do this local residents and commuters will have to actively pull together and discuss this constructively (and there are a lot of good points being made) with those behind the scheme. Unless those involved do this their voice will not be heard.

Of course we don't know the primary motivation of the council for this - they would not tell us! However, I bet money has a lot to do with it. In the official documents to set the thing up the costings were clearly set out. The startup costs are already covered and they are planning on making over £10,000 profit in the first six months - just from residents' parking permits. On top of this was the revenue from the P&D, parking fines and visitors parking permits. The annual running cost for the whole of the CPZ was (I think) £3,600 pa. Which is peanuts really.

They also know that once the scheme is in then everyone will know that it would be crazy for their road to leave the scheme (just look at the displaced parking) so it self-perpetuates and grows as other roads join in. Soon the whole area is a CPZ and the council's plans are fulfilled. The next step to increased revenue is to increase prices - they can hardly reduce costs!

The council has an ulterior motive, if money is not their primary aim then we should have been informed about it (if it was, we still should have been told about it). It is certainly not for the benefit of the residents. I'm still a touch alarmed by the CCTV which has popped up on my road - anyone else spotted any?

[Anthony Phillips]

Nope not seen any this side (clock house road side) of the station Paul.

[Jeff Jeffery]

This camera is puzzling.

Was it mentioned as part of the CPZ or is it a separate initiative?

I can't believe it's meant to be part of the CPZ (how could it work?!) so it must be there for another reason. Security? To ward off burglars? To dispel indolent binge drinkers disturbing the peace (I've not seen any)?

It's a bit odd and, as Paul, I'm slightly alarmed by its appearance. Can councils really just install cameras willy-nilly like this? I bet we can't...