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Petition needed to solve Northwood Hills commuter parking problem
RESIDENTS calling for parking controls near Northwood Hills station will have to gather support for another petition if they are to win their 10-year battle.
People who live near the station want councillors to install residents-only parking spaces, to stop rail commuters leaving cars in their roads all day.
Tolcarne Drive, off Joel Street, is particularly badly affected, while the problem is made worse in Harlyn Drive by parents dropping off Harlyn Primary School children.
Residents of Lichfield and Colchester roads have also complained of commuters taking up parking spaces and blocking their driveways.
Problems began, neighbours say, when the railway station car park was sold and made private in the 1990s. A consultation on parking management was first carried out in 2002 and then again in 2009, when a petition was drawn up. Both times, not enough residents were in favour and the plan was abandoned.
Neighbours are now asking for measures to be taken in roads which were in favour of restricted parking.
Sharon Pink, of Tolcarne Drive, where there is also a driving test centre driving, said commuter parking was blighting the area.
"It is possible for them to consider individual roads," she said. "This road continues to be a special case because of the primary school and driving test centre."
Rev Ken Limbert, former vicar of St Edmund's Church who lives in Colchester Road, said: "It does get very bad. Each morning I can count 22 cars parked along this road."
David Bishop, a former councillor for the area who lives in Lichfield Road, raised the issue at a Hillingdon Council meeting on November 3, but was told consultations had shown there was no demand for a parking permit scheme.
He has also unsuccessfully enquired about turning some unused land owned by the Tesco petrol station in Joel Street into a car park.
"I don't want to do another petition if no one is going to listen to it again, but people who live here have nowhere to park," he said. "There must be a solution."
Hillingdon's director of planning, environment, education and com-munity services, Jean Palmer, said: "We have consulted residents in this area on a number of occasions and the response has not been in favour of fresh parking control measures.
"However residents can still use the petitions process to highlight any concerns, which will be looked into once sufficient signatures have been received."
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Hi,
I live near the top of Tolcarne Drive, up near Tesco's. The parking has always been an issue since I moved to my flat in 2005. The parking down both sides means it is, in affect, a one way street and with cars going too fast down or up the road it is a wonder no-one has been killed or injured (apart from cats). I am quite happy to sign another petition for residents parking. It only needs to be for a couple of hours each day as in Northwood (Hallowell Road) and it would go some way to solving the problem. Something needs to be done.
For goodness sake don't make any fuss about parking or traffic near Tesco....your Council will probably want to fire 60% of the workforce! This is what Hillingdon Council plan to do to reduce traffic to and from St John's School!