Parking boost for Hammersmith and Fulham motorists
Wednesday February 1, 2012
Parking charges are set to be frozen and the 200th new parking bay opened in a package of measures to help hard-pressed motorists.
Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Council has pledged to freeze borough-wide parking permits and pay and display charges and will create around 20 new parking spaces, around Loftus Road, meaning the borough has 200 extra parking bays than it did in 2007.
It will be the fourth year out of five that parking charges have been frozen by the council, if the move is formally agreed at a budget council meeting later this month. The standard price for an hour's pay and display parking in H&F is set to stay at £2.20, while in town centres – where parking is at a premium – it will remain at £2.80.
H&F’s prices are among the lowest in inner London and are significantly lower than Camden (£4.90) and Lambeth (£4.20). The H&F resident’s parking permit is set to remain at £119, which is £181 cheaper than the most expensive borough, Islington (£300).
The council is also set to create its 200th additional parking bay since 2007 in a move to ease parking congestion in Britain’s fourth smallest borough. The plans to freeze charges and create more bays comes on top of other driver friendly initiatives delivered by the council over recent years. These include:
- Building a new slip road on Fulham Palace Road in record time, which is already reducing congestion by letting an extra 200 vehicles an hour through the busy junction
- Successfully piloting four new car club bays in 2011 and plans for 100 more over the next two years
- Successfully campaigning to scrap of the Western Extension of the Congestion Charge Zone
- Creating new 20 pence 'stop and shop' bays in Askew Road, Goldhawk Road and Fulham Road to encourage more shoppers to the area, with plans for more of these discounted bays in North End Road and around Wandsworth Bridge Road
- Introduction of a successful match day only parking scheme near Fulham Football Club
- Residents' visitors discounted parking in around half the borough, which the council hopes to expand borough-wide
- Simpler, easier to read, road signs.
Cllr Nick Botterill, H&F Council deputy leader, said: “These are tough times economically and the cost of living continues to rise for us all. In recognition of this the council has pledge to cut council tax for the fifth year out of six and we are also bringing forward a package of measures to help motorists.
“We are making sure motorists get a fair deal by not increasing our parking permits or pay and display charges and we are opening our 200th new parking bay, since 2007, next month.”
The announcement follows the council’s successful Get Moving campaign, which was launched last year, where councillors and council officers spoke to local residents about their transport 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.
Cllr Botterill said: “We know from speaking to residents that parking and traffic jams are two of the biggest problems that motorists face in our small, densely packed, borough. We are tackling these issues head on by introducing a package of driver friendly measures – including keeping parking costs down, creating new parking bays and building a slip-road at one of our most congested junctions.”
To have your say visit www.lbhf.gov.uk/getmoving.
