Council to freeze parking charges in boost to drivers
Friday December 2, 2011
Local motorists are set for a boost after the council announced plans to freeze borough-wide parking charges next year.
Residents’ parking permits and pay and display charges will not rise under the proposals announced by Hammersmith & Fulham Council today (December 2), bucking the trend nationally for increasing parking charges .
It is the fourth time in five years that parking and permit charges have been frozen by the council, and charges in H&F remain lower than those in many other similar local authorities. The council has also created around 200 more parking bays in the last four years to ease parking congestion in Britain’s fourth smallest borough.
Cllr Nick Botterill, H&F Council deputy leader, said: “We know that local people are feeling the pinch and this is one way of showing our support by giving residents some financial respite. We are making sure motorists get a fair deal by not increasing our parking permits or pay and display charges.”
A resident’s parking permit in H&F is on a par with other inner-London counterparts and is up to £181 cheaper than in Islington, which tops the scale for the capital at £300.
The standard price for an hour's parking using pay and display in H&F stays at £2.20, while in town centres, where parking is at a premium, it remains at £2.80. These prices are still among the lowest in inner London, in particular when compared to Camden, where an hour's parking currently costs up to £4.90, and Lambeth, where people are charged up to £4.20 per hour to park.
The council’s announcement comes following this year’s transport campaign Get H&F Moving, where councillors and council officers spoke to residents in the borough about their transport problems and issues that they want to see change.
Despite being only four miles in length from the top to the bottom of the borough, H&F has around 180,000 residents with thousands of workers and commuters travelling on its roads every day. The council is keeping parking costs down, while trying to improve the smooth flow of traffic and reduce pollution.
Cllr Botterill said: “We have been speaking to residents about their issues with transport in the borough, including parking and congestion, and have made real improvements to our roads, often based on their suggestions. As part of this listening exercise we are not increasing parking charges next year but instead will focus on enforcing the rules that already exist and continue to deliver transport improvements that residents told us they want.”
This year the council built a new slip road on Fulham Palace Road in record time, which is already reducing congestion in the area by letting an extra 200 vehicles an hour through the busy junction.
Despite this, and initiatives like creating more car club bays, H&F is still the second most congested borough in the capital, with hundreds of thousands of vehicles travelling on our roads every day.
Motorists in Hammersmith & Fulham lose a total of four million minutes - or 66,849 hours - every year, sitting in traffic jams. But the council has been central to major London-wide schemes to improve traffic flow in the borough’s roads, including the scrapping of the Congestion Charge Western Extension Zone and the London Permit Scheme, which gives the authority more say over how and when utilities carry out road works.
The council has also been doing all it can to balance the parking needs of residents against those of shoppers and businesses over the past few years, having introduced 20 pence 'stop and shop' bays in Askew Road, Goldhawk Road and Fulham Road to encourage visitors to the areas. Last November introduced nine new two-hour bays in Pennard Road, after speaking with Shepherds Bush market traders.
Current costs for parking suspensions in H&F are £35, which are also still lower than councils such as Westminster and Lambeth. In the past two years, H&F Council has been making it harder for people not living in the borough to ‘steal’ spaces meant for residents, by strengthening evidence requirements for residents' permits. This has led to a reduction in false claims, a crackdown in the fraudulent use of disabled blue badges and an increase in the amount of space available for genuine residents.
For more information, visit: www.lbhf.gov.uk/getmoving»
