Controlled Parking Zone For Dulwich?

[Otto]

We live nearish the station and ll, and, as east dulwich has gotton more popular, our street has become almost impossible to park on (4 years ago it was not too bad). It is worse on rainy days and days after football matches so I am guessing lazy commuters...I've two small children and it is not terribly fun when you can't park anywhere remotely close to the house with groceries, school gear, tired children, etc. Many a time I've had to double park in the middle of the road and block traffic to unload the groceries whilst the children are screaming...then i get back in the car and circle for 20minutes for a spot, then we all get out and walk to the house...yuck.

The best solution so far is I try to cycle or walk everywhere instead, but, there are times when I have to drive. I would actually welcome some kind of residents permit if it discouraged commuter parking on our street. Ironically, we bought our house for the benefit of not having to drive to get to the station, shops, etc...and now we hesitate to ever ever ever move our car...would ditch the car but it is necessary sometimes...

[Bobby P]

I really cannot understand the complaints of other Melbourne Grovers. They don't compute. I've seen no problem parking in the four years I've lived on the Grove - just south of ED Grove. In fact, I've never had any problem parking at any time of day or night (and this despite digging up half of Ashbourne Grove). The furthest away I've ever had to park is around the corner. How refreshing, egalitarian and pleasantly unstressful is this grown-up lack of restriction.

As I look outside now at 1.30pm, I can see from my window about 5 spaces within 50 yards of the house. This is normal. And even if you occasionally have to park on a neighbouring road on occasion, well... get over it! This is London, not some rural utopia: anyone who expects to always have a space always right outside your door is not living in the real world - moreover, a CPZ will not help you get one, as I well know having lived under one in my previous address, a similar area where its introduction made no difference at all to the parking restrictions and - as others have stated - just caused endless stress and inconvenience, and expense, to legitimate residents.

[Frisco]

"And even if you occasionally have to park on a neighbouring road on occasion, well... get over it! This is London, not some rural utopia: anyone who expects to always have a space always right outside your door is not living in the real world - moreover, a CPZ will not help you get one, as I well know having lived under one in my previous address, a similar area where its introduction made no difference at all to the parking restrictions and - as others have stated - just caused endless stress and inconvenience, and expense, to legitimate residents."

So I guess that means, you're ok Jack

[Marcus]

There are many CPZs in London that are completely useless. You still have to drive around for 20 mins desperately trying to find a space, sometimes without success (it's happened to me in Notting Hill). They exist purely for the purpose of income generation and genuinely make London a worse place to live. I don't think many would dispute this.

However, the issue facing the area around East D station is singular, namely commuter parking. A scheme that solely targeted commuter parking by enforcing restrictions for 1 hour day would solve this. Local zones within the CPZ would stop people living at the edge of the zone avoiding a 5/10 min walk and driving to the station.

Let's be honest about it. The only argument against this type of limited CPZ is, "It doesn't affect me, I don't really care that it affects other people, I don't want to pay any money for something that I'm not interested in."

This is a fair point. If the majority of people feel this way then there definitely should not be a CPZ. It just comes down how many people are 'for' and how many 'against'. Regardless of which category we fall into, we should be prepared to respect the majority view.

There should be another referendum and when everyone votes against a CPZ, I promise to shut up for another 5 years!