Holmdene... light on facts but heavy on emotion

Sally, David, Harriet, Holmdene anonymous, and everyone

There is a real need to think through the benefits (or otherwise) of a CPZ.

Sadly there appears to be a belief that it is a cure-all for parking problems when that simply is not the case. It seems to have delivered some improvement to the lives of residents in the existing CP zone near Herne Hill station because there's was a very specific problem of commuters parking there all day. Hence a balance was struck within the CPZ between the needs of shop keepers for shoppers to park, for the needs of residents for short term visitors or tradesmen to park without the hassle of having to buy a parking ticket, and the need to discourage commuters, by having the CPZ parking restriction apply only between the hours of noon and 2pm.

However, we seem to easily to forget that the inevitable corollary to such a limited hours restriction is that there is enforcement only between those same hours. Hence there is no enforcement in the evenings, or overnight, thus people can park where they like then, CPZ or no CPZ, with impunity.

Unsurprisingly therefore, that lack of enforcement will do nothing to solve another problem, namely too many overnight car parkers, a problem which is brought about by most streets not being big enough to accommodate even one car per house, let alone the two or three that occur when houses have been split into flats or there are multiple cars per household. This, as best I can understand it, from these postings, which seem to be light on facts but heavy on emotion, is the primary problem in Holmdene

So my suggestions to Sally and other residents in Holmdene are to first take the following actions
1.Do an audit of the real demand from Holmdene residents for parking in Holmdene. Amongst other things this could provide the registration numbers of residents cars and thus enable you to much more accurately determine how much parking is by residents, and how much is by non residents. You may be quite surprised to discover that what you thought was non resident parking was simply someone from further up the street
2.Carry out an audit of the parking at different times of day over a week and establish how many residents are parking, how many non residents are parking, and how many parking spaces are free. On the numerous occasions that I have tramped up and down Holmdene in the last few years counting available spaces, there have never been less than 10 free spaces.
3.Give up on the idea that you should always be able to park outside your own house. Most of us wised up to the fact that such a luxury was rarely going to happen many years ago.

Clearly if the outcome of action 1 is that there is a greater indigenous demand for parking in Holmdene than Holmdene can currently itself satisfy, then the solution is largely in your own hands. You have to either promote a reduction in car ownership and a corresponding take up of car clubs, or park on your own forecourt where that is possible, or create more on street parking spaces. In the latter respect Holmdene is unique in this area in so far as it is such a wide road it, so it could have diagonal, as opposed to parallel parking, and increase the capacity by about 50%. OK, I know one of the officers stood up and said that was not safe, but that claim appears to be without foundation given that such parking already happens on a far busier road through Dulwich Village, and to the best of my knowledge there have never been any accidents there.

No Sally, it is not simply a case of “just because the 'no' vote streets don't want the acknowledged problem moving into theirs”, more a deeper recognition by many people who have thought long and hard about it, that a CPZ will not solve Holmdene's problems, or their own parking problems - and most streets have got a parking problem of some sort. As a result the numbers opposed to the idea of a CPZ are about 3 times those in favour.



 Mike Colvin, Beckwith Road