2006

28.9.06 | Hornsey Journal

07.8.06 | Haringey People magazine

To read it click here | To read it click here

02.8.06 | This is Local London

No parking signsBy Kay Murray

Voice of dissent: Martin Brophy, chairman of the action group Muswell Hill Against Controlled Parking Zones K13089-08

Proposals to introduce controlled parking zones (CPZ) to swathes of Haringey have caused a storm of controversy since the plans were unveiled last month. But this is not the first time residents across the west of the borough have campaigned against parking restrictions. KAY MURRAY looks at the turbulent history of the area’s parking restrictions.

MAY 2000 Haringey Council seeks the views of residents and traders for the possible introduction of a CPZ in the roads around Bounds Green Tube and Bowes Park railway stations to discourage all-day commuter parking. The consultation form does not include a question asking whether residents want the CPZ or not.

AUGUST 2000 The council consults Muswell Hill residents and concludes that there is a need for a CPZ covering the streets next to the shopping area and surrounding road…
To read it click here

Barnet rejects controlled parking zones

By Lawrence Marzouk

Plans to introduce three controlled parking zones (CPZs) in Whetstone, New and East Barnet, and around Oakleigh Park railway station, have been unequivocally rejected by Conservative members of Barnet Council.

The cabinet member for environment, Councillor Matthew Offord, had wanted the three large schemes to raise £450,000 a year in extra parking fines, pay-and-display income and residents’ permits, but he was overruled by fellow Tories on the Chipping Barnet Area Environment Sub Committee, which was specially convened last Wednesday to push through the plan.

Four of the five Conservative members present, including the cabinet member Councillor Brian Coleman, voted against the Tory proposal, while the fifth, the cabinet member for social services, Councillor Fiona Bulmer, abstained. A senior council source told this newspaper that the CPZs were being introduced simply to plug a hole in this year’s budget, which has been hit by plummeting parking ticket numbers.
To read it click here

02.8.06 | Hornsey Journal

CPZ boss tells residents: ‘It’s your decision’

THE man with the power to bring in CPZs across west Haringey has pledged that there will be no parking controls – unless residents want them.

Councillor Brian Haley, executive member for environment at Haringey Council, made a surprise appearance at a packed meeting at Holy Trinity Church – organised by Crouch End for People and Green N8 – to meet his critics and take questions on the controversial proposals.

He said he would not scrap the patchy informal consultation process and start again. But he committed the council to holding a second more detailed consultation if residents showed support for the CPZ plans. This would take place in September.
To read it click here

Anger as New River residents don’t get say on station CPZ

HUNDREDS of residents have been left out of the CPZ consultation for Hornsey station, despite living 200 metres away.

The people of New River Village, off Hornsey High Street, were not given consultation papers for their views on the CPZ proposed by Haringey Council, despite a request for 300 copies by the residents’ association.

Kay Griffiths, secretary of the New River Village Residents Association, said: “I was told that they can’t supply 300 because it was too many. My argument was that we have been left out of the consultation.
To read it click here

YMCA anger at parking plan

JIM SHEPLEY: “Restriction will affect our users

THE proposed pay and display scheme for Crouch End and CPZ for Hornsey station is “an attack on people going about their daily business” and will hinder those most in need from using the YMCA’s services.

That is the view of Jim Shepley, programme director at Hornsey YMCA, who says users of its children’s centre, fitness centre, hostel and restaurant will all suffer if the two schemes are put in place.
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Letters

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We don’t have a parking problem!

WE do not have a parking problem in our roads – North View, South View, Hawthorn and Beechwood. CPZs will give us a parking problem – prohibitive lines everywhere, and restrictive bays….

THERE will always be people who live on the edge of a CPZ boundary.

However, even if the 25 residents who have complained about Fortis Green parking congestion all reside with Mr Dunn in Springcroft Avenue (61 households), this remains a minority viewpoint….

BRIAN Haley claims he is upholding the letter of the law with his policy of rigid enforcement of local parking regulations.

If this is to be believed, perhaps he will explain why he allowed a large commercial vehicle to park under a “No Parking” sign at the bottom of Cranley Gardens for 10 days and nights last month without a penalty…

CROUCH End needs more, not less, car parking space. We have fabulous shops and amenities creating a vibrant community serving N8 and the surrounding areas. The only problem being that, without adequate parking facilities, it is difficult to make full use of them…

03.8.06 | Muswell Hill & Crouch End Times

Letters

To read it click here

Do the honourable thing Mr Haley and resign

Dear Mr Brian Haley, I am writing to request your immediate resignation from the council. I have no confidence in you as a councillor and much less than this as the executive member for the environment.

My reasons for this are based around the current controlled parking zone (CPZ) consultation, as follows: It surely must be the role of a councillor to foster a sense of community and co-operation for you actively to cause division by your extraordinary verbal attack (‘Haley: ‘You are selfish, abusive bullies”, July 20), categorising the residents of the west of Haringey under a single heading, is absurd and for you to use terms of abuse beggars belief the only proper form of apology for your outburst is for you to stand down.
To read it click here

We are desperate for controlled parking zones

A controlled parking zone (CPZ) is the only way to make sure that there is emergency access to our street.

Roads such as Shakespeare Gardens are so narrow that if people park on both sides of the road, an ambulance or fire engine would not be able to get down them in an emergency.

The problem comes when commuters come down the road and park opposite each other nobody wants this. I don’t care who parks outside my house as long as they park sensibly.
To read it click here

We must use extra time to change process

Not a single CPZ scheme appeared on the agendas of the much-vaunted area assemblies. Labour’s money-grabbing cynicism meant that community groups and businesses denied their right to address the council by Labour had to organise their own meetings to defend their historic rights of free speech and no taxation without representation.

Liberal Democrats have fought for residents’ rights, both in the council chamber and elsewhere. Now we have to ensure that the extra time won is used to change the process, so that we get a result that Haringey residents can trust, street by street.
To read it click here

Why has no one responded to enquiries?

I have emailed the leader of the Haringey council, George Meehan, three times in the past ten days with concerns and questions regarding the so-called consultation process for CPZ in Bounds Green.

Regrettably, as until today, he has not replied to any of my emails.
To read it click here

Sixty complaints: That was all it took for Haringey Council to consider parking controls

By Kay Murray

What’s the real agenda? opponents to proposed controlled parking in Haringey say the council is just out for financial gain

The four controlled parking zones (CPZs) planned for the west of Haringey were prompted by only 60 complaints about parking congestion yet almost 15,000 people would be affected by them.

The council claims that the CPZs are to be introduced in response to concerns about commuter parking near Bounds Green railway station, East Finchley Tube station, Hornsey railway station and Harringay railway station.
To read it click here

CPZ survey deadline extended

By Kay Murray

The controversy over plans to impose a raft of controlled parking zones (CPZ) across the west of Haringey rolled on this week, with an under-pressure Haringey Council agreeing to extend the consultation period in Crouch End, and the creation of an anti-CPZ group in Bounds Green.

The council agreed to extend the consultation deadline from August 8 to the end of September at a public meeting last Tuesday, at the Holy Innocents Church, in Tottenham Lane, Crouch End, which was attended by more than 500 residents and Labour councillor Brian Haley, executive member for environment.
To read it click here

 02.8.06 | The advertiser

 

27.8.06| Ham & High

Campaigners claim moral victory in fight over CPZ scheme

Ben McPartland

PEOPLE power has forced a U-turn from Haringey Council in its bid to introduce controversial parking plans.

Labour councillor Brian Haley succumbed to pressure and extended the controversial consultation process over controlled parking zones at a public meeting on Tuesday.

More than 500 residents and campaigners crammed into Holy Innocents Church in Crouch End to confront the council’s environment spokesman.

The deadlines for CPZs at Haringey and Hornsey stations, Fortis Green, Bounds Green and for the Stop and Shop schemes in Crouch End and Muswell Hill have now been put back from August 8 to the end of September.
To read it click here

 

 

 

29.7.06 |Guardian | Money | Personal Effects

Keep it green

Concreting or tarmacing a garden, done properly, costs thousands of pounds. Parking for 10 years costs £250. Even with visitors and possible increments there is no comparison. Additionally, you will remove the ability of yet another patch of the urban jungle to absorb rainwater, leading to run-off and localised flooding.
A compromise might be to pave enough for your own car, using “grasscrete”, which has holes in it through which the grasses or herbs continue to grow, and set lines of paving stones into the remaining lawn for occasional use by others.
Rosalind Riley, Kent, who wins this week’s £25 National Book Token

To read it click here

 

 

 

22.7.06 | Guardian | Money| Personal Effects

Any answers? Question for next week

Our local council is about to impose a controlled parking zone in our street, charging us £25 a year (to start with), plus more for visitors. We have quite a large front garden, and many visitors who travel by car. I am wondering whether it would it be worth our while to concrete over the front garden and turn it into three private parking bays.
BILL BROWN

Reply Email your suggestions to personal.effects@guardian.co.uk or write to us at Personal Effects, Money, The Guardian, 119 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3ER. There’s a £25 National Book Token for the best answer. And do you have a problem readers could solve for you? Let us know.
For more of your answers visitwww.guardian.co.uk/money

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22.7.06 | BBC 24

Share car, make friends, save planet | VIEWPOINT

Richard Ghail

In this week’s Green Room, transport planner and engineer Dr Richard Ghail urges you to get out of your car, save money and the environment, and make some new friends along the way.

Attitudes have changed; only the die-hard drive to central London

Few people still argue about the reality of climate change or its causes. Nearly a third of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions come from transport, and it is the only sector in which those emissions are growing.
To read it click here

 

 

20.7.06 | This is Local London

Haley: ‘You are selfish, abusive bullies’

By Peter Stebbings

The Haringey councillor behind the proposed parking schemes has launched an extraordinary verbal attack on residents in the west of the borough particularly Muswell Hill residents accusing them of being abusive, threatening, selfish and ‘thinking they are better than most’.

Councillor Brian Haley, executive member for environment, lashed out at those in the west who are opposed to the council’s proposed pay and display schemes and controlled parking zones (CPZs), adding he would not meet people in Muswell Hill ‘who only want to shout and impose their views on others’.
To read it click here

20.7.06 | Muswell Hill & Crouch End Times

Parking zone survey extended

By Peter Stebbings

Many roads included in proposals for four new controlled parking zones (CPZs) are likely to be dropped from the final plans, according to the councillor responsible for the schemes.

Councillor Brian Haley, executive member for environment, said there was no way’ that all the roads proposed for the CPZs in Hornsey, Crouch End, Bounds Green, Stroud Green and Fortis Green will come under a new CPZ.
To read it click here

Ugly scenes mar parking zone debate

By Peter Stebbings

Police were called to a meeting of Haringey Council on Monday evening during which councillors debated several contentious issues against a backdrop of some hysterical reaction in the public gallery.

Before the meeting, at Wood Green Civic Centre, in High Road, Wood Green, more than 100 people gathered to protest against proposed Haringey Teaching Primary Care Trust (TPCT) cuts of £11 million and the council’s proposed Unitary Development Plan (UDP), the statutory document which guides the council when assessing planning applications.
To read it click here

Opinion: Right to be angry

Councillor Brian Haley’s comments about opponents to parking schemes in the west of Haringey are astonishing.

While he does have a point that the behaviour of some residents has been inexcusable shouting abuse will not win any arguments he has to understand that people are behaving like this because they are very angry. The majority of people in the west of the borough, aside from those in Fortis Green, oppose his CPZ plans, yet he shows utter contempt for them. They have every right to be angry and frustrated the CPZs seem to be being forced on residents against their wishes.
To read it click here

Many more letters click here

Clarification sought after controlled parking zones comment

As I was helping to set up the Green N8 controlled parking zone CPZ information stall on Saturday in Crouch End Broadway, a minibus full of Haringey Council’s executive members parked on the W7 bus lane and were let out in front of our stall. Some of them noticed it, but Councillor Brian Haley, exe- cutive member for transport, the decision maker on the CPZs, came to have a closer look. After studying our questionnaire and CPZ que- tions and answers leaflet, he said: “It won’t make any difference,” and walked off.

Is this the same Mr Haley who said: “We are aware that there have been problems with our consultation process….” (‘Opposition to station CPZ’, July 6) or quoted in the press as saying “What we want is genuine consultation about the issue nothing is set in stone yet,”? Or Mr Haley, the executive member for transport, who represents the policies on the Haringey web site which says: “The decision to go ahead with a controlled parking zone follows a consultation with residents and businesses whose views determine what roads are in the zone…”?

When he said, “It won’t make any difference”, did he mean the consultation; that these views won’t make any difference, or that our efforts to inform the public about the proposed CPZ schemes and the impact it might have on their lives won’t make any difference?
To read it click here

Is the council listening to us, as it claims to be doing?

A controlled parking zone CPZ is not required in Haringey. To implement one would be merely to raise money by fleecing people. Surely we pay enough in council tax? If the council wishes to help shopkeepers, it could introduce a one-hour parking restriction around main shopping areas, as they have done in Muswell Hill Broadway. A CPZ in shopping areas will drive shoppers away. There is no need for controlled parking in the area of Bounds Green, or any changes to the situation around Highgate station and Alexandra Park station.
To read it click here

19.7.06 | Hornsey Journal

Haringey CPZ: Parking protests all set to heat up

ANTI-CPZ feeling is rising, with protests spreading as Haringey looks to get residents paying to park close to their homes.

Haringey Council wants to introduce Controlled Parking Zones in four key neighbourhoods: Hornsey, Harringay, Fortis Green and Bounds Green. Also planned is a pay and display operation for Crouch End and Muswell Hill.
To read it click here

Haringey CPZ: Opponents join to blast ‘unnecessary’ scheme

RESIDENTS make their opinions heard at St Mary’s School on Wednesday

FLOODS of residents poured into St Mary’s School, in Rectory Gardens, Hornsey, on Wednesday to look at CPZ plans – and most were quick to sign a petition condemning them as they left.

Adrian Jones, of Hawthorn Road, Hornsey, said: “I have lived here for 30 years and have always been able to park my car within 30 yards of my house.”
To read it click here

Haringey CPZ: Councillor in appeal for calm debate

THE lead man on environmental issues in Haringey has led a scathing attack on the “ferocious” nature of some anti-CPZ campaigners – and called for moderate discussion on the issues.

Councillor Brian Haley, executive member for the environment, said he was not surprised by the level of protest against the proposals, but said it was “unacceptable” that council staff charged with running exhibitions of the pay-to-park proposals had been intimidated by angry members of the public. He claimed that some staff felt their “lives had been put in danger”.

He said: “Staff are going out to do the consultations and have been shouted at and some have felt that their lives have been put in danger.
To read it click here

Don’t cram people into thousands of new homes, council told

PROTESTERS outside Haringey Civic Centre before Monday night’s meeting

HARINGEY Council has approved a blueprint which could see people seriously overcrowded in new housing developments.

Councillors voted to adopt the Unitary Development Plan (UDP) at a packed council meeting on Monday night, amid protests. To read it click here

Public cleared as CPZ meeting turns nasty

HARINGEY Civic Centre descended into chaos on Monday night when police were called and the public gallery had to be emptied following a bad tempered meeting on the contentious issue of CPZs.

Furious residents – who had been told they could not speak at the meeting – shouted abuse at the councillors, who voted down a motion to suspend four consultations on Controlled Parking Zones in Haringey.
To read it click here

Haringey CPZ: ‘Workers will have to use public transport’

A BUSINESSMAN worried how his staff will manage to commute work if a CPZ takes hold said he was told by a council officer that they would just have to leave the car at home.

Mr SJ Seth, of Bounds Green Press, is fighting the CPZ for Bounds Green on the argument that it will make life even harder for businesspeople in the area.
To read it click here

Haringey CPZ: Day of action to ‘save community’

Pay and display protesters in Muswell Hill Picture: Tony Gay

WITH the deadline for pay and display plans consultation looming opponents in Muswell Hill blitzed the area with leaflets imploring residents to write to the council.

Residents volunteered to hand out 10,000 leaflets to businesses and homes last Saturday.
To read it click here

Letters

A CPZ is not required in Haringey and to implement one would be merely to raise money by fleecing people. Surely we pay enough in Council Tax?

If the council wishes to keep shopkeepers and shoppers, they could introduce a one-hour parking restriction around main shopping areas as they have done in Muswell Hill Broadway. A CPZ in shopping areas will drive shoppers away to supermarkets with car parks.
To read it click here

12.7.06 | Muswell Hill & Crouch End Times

Parking scheme will go ahead despite opposition

Don’t expect Haringey Council to take any notice of your views on CPZs. I would like to remind readers of Haringey’s definition of consultations for the Highgate Station CPZ a few years ago. After an almost total rejection of the plans by residents, Haringey implemented the CPZ.To read it click here

Residents deserve the respect of a proper consultation exercise over controlled parking scheme

Once upon a time some incompetent soul woke up in Haringey Council with the bright idea that would make loads of money for the council.To read it click here

How green is environmental lobby group?

In Crouch End Broadway at the weekend, I picked up a copy of GreenN8’s leaflet about the proposed CPZ. I am surprised at the pro-car tone of this publication. It attacks the Mayor of London for advocating parking control initiatives that encourage a shift from the use of the car for personal travel to public transport, walking or cycling’. Whilst most of us use cars some of the time, surely we need to reduce car use and the relentless growth in the number of cars on our streets? To read it click here

MP: parking plan travesty

By Peter Stebbings

The Hornsey and Wood Green MP Lynne Featherstone has labelled the six proposed parking schemes in the west of Haringey a ‘travesty’ and said the public consultations should be suspended.

The Lib Dem MP asked the Labour council leader George Meehan to stop the consultations because councillors in the affected area nearly all of whom are Lib Dem were not consulted before the plans were made public. To read it click here

 

 

12.7.06 | Hornsey Journal

Summer time… and another unwanted CPZ

LAST Thursday, July 6, Muswell Hill residents at very short notice, on a scorching summer evening, turned out in their hundreds to consider and unanimously oppose the latest parking scheme put forward by a cynical Haringey Council.

The council is yet again attempting to ambush the local community during the summer holiday when residents are away or about to go away, in order to force through an unwanted Controlled Parking Zone. Last time they failed.

The so-called Stop and Shop scheme, a euphemism for Haringey’s CPZ idea to raise money, is not based on any research, or need, or consultation.
To read it click here

Car ban is a non-starter

W JAGO (Viewpoints, Journal July 6) misunderstands the underlying theme of my letter regarding parking in Muswell Hill. Like it, or not, car owning is on the increase. With this in mind it is essential to do what we can to ease traffic problems.To read it click here

£6m profit… but council ‘doesn’t fine drivers to make cash’

LAST year Haringey Council collected more than £6million in parking fines.

A Freedom of Information request to the council by the Journal revealed the council took £6,224,137 in parking tickets and clamping and removal charges in 2005-2006.

In a year it issued more than 162,000 tickets and towed or clamped more than 10,200 vehicles. To read it click here

Shock as station CPZ almost reaches Broadway

A CROUCH End ward councillor has slammed Haringey’s consultation on a proposed CPZ in the area.

The proposed parking controls – to prevent commuters from parking around Hornsey station – stretch right down into the heart of Crouch End, almost as far as the Broadway.

Councillor David Winskill (Liberal Democrat), Crouch End, said: “I was gobsmacked when I found out the Hornsey Railway CPZ stretches virtually up to the clocktower. They have not told any of the Crouch End councillors.To read it click here

Better off without cars

AS a non-driver who gets about by walking or using the bus or train, I am always rather taken aback by the obsession there is with car use, seen by the latest furore in Crouch End and Muswell Hill over CPZs.

I am doubtful about CPZs, which in the poorer areas of the borough sometimes penalise those that need a car to get to work at unsocial hours. To read it click here

12.7.06 | The advertiser

Are CPZ’s the problem or the solution?

The post-election decision to propose four more controll parking zones and 2 stop the shop areas has met with a barrage of criticism from residents.
To read it click here

7.7.06|Ham & High

Residents predict nightmare if parking controls are introduced
By Jonathan Marciano

FORTIS Green residents who face being sandwiched between two proposed parking zones have launched a campaign against the plans.

Haringey Council wants to introduce a controlled parking scheme to prevent all-day parking in parts of Fortis Green… To read it click here

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.7.06 | Muswell Hill & Crouch End Times

Marking out of CPZ will reduce the number of available spaces

Haringey Council’s deliberate marking and layout of parking spaces and loading bays in any given road will actually reduce the amount of available car parking in a CPZ zone. This, plus the council’s willingness to sell more permits than available spaces, and its obvious intention to CPZ the whole of the borough will in no way benefit the majority of Haringey residents…To read it click here

Opposition to station CPZ

By Peter Stebbings

Opposition to the proposed controlled parking zones (CPZs) in Fortis Green, Bounds Green, Hornsey and Stroud Green grew this week, as Haringey Council announced plans for another in the vicinity of Alexandra Palace railway station.

Two more CPZs have also been proposed around Bruce Grove station and White Hart Lane station in Tottenham...To read it click here

Parking restrictions are not in the interests of traders

This is simply a CPZ for central Crouch End with no extra parking spaces being provided. It will encourage drivers to park on the surrounding residential streets. We will end up with a CPZ everywhere and an even bigger parking ticket culture…To read it click here

Is council trying to avoid new guidelines for consultations?

As your readers may know, Haringey Council has recently launched a rash of parking consultations in the west of the borough. In Muswell Hill, plans for the proposed Stop & Shop’ scheme around the Broadway have been quickly followed by those for a CPZ in the roads nearest to East Finchley Tube station…To read it click here

5.7.06 | Hornsey Journal

Yellow lines are just there to make money

MUSWELL Hill had no problems with parking until Haringey Council started painting yellow lines everywhere, nor were there any traffic jams until the lights at Alexandra Park Road/Colney Hatch Lane were installed…To read it click here

Parking boss hits back over CPZ plan

PROPOSALS for parking restrictions in Hornsey and Crouch End for Hornsey Station have been defended by Haringey Council’s parking boss.

The council was accused last week of trying to impose a “money-making scheme” in the form of a controlled parking zone (CPZ) across swathes of Hornsey and part of Crouch End…To read it click here

 29.6.06| Hornsey Journal

Money grabbers!

PLANS to charge residents in Hornsey and Crouch End to park their cars on the road have been slammed by residents as “another money-making scheme”.

Haringey Council wants to introduce a controlled parking zone (CPZ) across great swathes of Hornsey and parts of Crouch End – supposedly to ease congestion caused by commuter parking at Hornsey station….To read it click here