Locals Angry over Chelsea FC's Victory Parade
"This strutting peacock event is a real pain for Fulham residents"
Local residents living around Stamford Bridge have expressed their frustration at Monday's victory parade on H&F Council's website.
The parade means residents are hemmed in road closures and both road and parking restrictions throughout the day, with huge crowds of people descending on the area and lining the pavements.
And it's clear on the website that many people are angry about the effect this will once again have on the neighbourhood.
Here is a sample of the responses:
" My best advice to local residents is to leave their neighbourhood and not return until the event is well over. It''s outrageous that we have to do this. We put up with enough with CFC as it is. Thanks not for looking out for our interests LBHF."
" The Fulham residents have indeed not been consulted on this event and it is shocking that hard working residents who pay high F&H Council Tax rates and Road Tax when they can''t use their cars, are penalized like this. This is not the only event when this happens, the Prudential Bicycle race operates without consultation yearly putting Fulham and SW Londoners in great difficulty on the day. There is nothing to justify drunken football fans parading in a very densely populated area of London. This event should have been held elsewhere."
" On a previous parade day it was impossible to get across the New Kings Road to get to Wandsworth Bridge, Sainsbury, Homebase etc as Chelsea had members of their heavy mob blocking off all the streets south of Parsons Green. Bank Holiday Monday is a day when many people like to shop for their food and particularly DIY! This strutting peacock event is a real pain for Fulham residents who are not Chelsea fans. The match days are bad enough without this."
" Although last time Chelsea FC organised the parade well, was tidied quickly (which was appreciated) and I understand it is a community/morale boosting event, ultimately the club seems to have no regard for actual local residents. Most of the people taking part are most likely not locals. Why can''t they have the parade contained inside their enormous 50,000 seat stadium? And why is it on a bank holiday?"
" I find it difficult to believe that the council have agreed to this parade the day after we have suffered a football match at Chelsea. On Sunday we will have no bus service on Fulham Road for several hours and traffic will be disrupted the whole day. We have to suffer this when the majority of the people coming in don't live in the area and have no interest in keeping it clean."
" The road closure times seem over the top and disproportionate, and do not take into account local residents' wishes, or needs, to travel on the Bank Holiday Monday. Most local residents are not interested in Chelsea or football. The fact their Bank Holiday will be badly disrupted has not been taken into account in the planning of this event."
The council has replied to these complaints saying: " We have asked the event organisers to do everything they can to minimise disruption to residents and to open roads as soon as they can after the event. It does take time to set up the barriers safely and get all the stewarding in place for those people who do want to take part in the event.
" But we agree with you that an event of this kind can only happen if everything possible is done to reduce the impact on local people."
You can read the comments on full here and tell us what you think about the parade on the .
May 22, 2015
