A CPZ was applied to roads closest to Barnet Hospital after years of complaints about uncontrolled parking by staff and patients blocking up access to homes and businesses and clogging up the area.
The invitation to residents to give their views makes no mention of the fact that Barnet Council’s revenue from the CPZ would be higher if the zone was widened to other streets and if pay and display parking was introduced in those bays which are under-used by local householders.
When the Barnet Hospital CPZ was introduced in 2018, the council agreed a review should take place.
An informal online consultation, which closes in August (20.8.2020), gives residents an opportunity to indicate if they think changes should be made in either in the boundary of the CPZ or in the type of restrictions.
The area being surveyed is much larger than the existing zone and includes roads within an area stretching from Bells Hill and Whitings Road in the south to Wood Street and Barnet Road in the north, and from the Black Horse roundabout in the east to Galley Lane and Quinta Drive in the west.
In addition to the dozen or so roads that are currently included, residents in another 36 roads are now being consulted.
Householders are asked if they are satisfied with the operation and boundaries of the zone; the restrictions on parking between 8am and 6.30pm, Monday to Saturday; and whether they would support pay and display being introduced when demand from residents is low and where extra paid-for-parking places would assist visitors and workers at the hospital.
Several residents criticised the timing of the survey given the vast reduction in traffic due to the coronavirus pandemic, at a time when far fewer patients are visiting the hospital. They say a better option would have been to have waited until parking demand settled down in a post-pandemic “new normal”.
Councillor David Longstaff acknowledged that traffic had yet to return to pre-covid.19 levels, but the review had already been delayed and there were significant issues for residents outside the zone.
Traffic displaced from streets within the CPZ was causing a problem in nearby roads and those residents wanted a chance to put their case for the zone to be widened.
The review of the hospital CPZ was agreed at a meeting of the council’s environment committee which decided that 100 permits to park in the zone should continue to be offered to hospital staff.