Is Parking Set to Get Worse?

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Residents fear Westfield shoppers will take their parking spots

Residents living close to the Westfield development say the parking situation in their streets will become impossible once the shopping centre opens.

People living in streets such as Macfarlane, Bulwer and Pennard believe shoppers will not bother using the designated car park but will park in front of their homes instead, especially if that turns out to be the cheaper alternative.

Mrs James of Macfarlane road says shoppers approaching the site from the south are unlikely to bother going all the way up Wood Lane and into Ariel Way, where the entrance and exit to the Westfield car park will be.

“Parking in these streets should be ‘residents only’,” Mrs James told ShepherdsBushW12.com. “The council say they will wait and see and deal with problems as they arise, but I think it is ridiculous they are not consulting people on parking now,” she said.

She said the council had told her the cost of parking inside Westfield would be “competitive”.

Residents in nearby streets say the parking situation is already bad enough, with many not daring to move their cars during the day in case they lose their spot.

The roads immediately surrounding Westfield are in parking zone G, where pay and display tickets cost 90p for 30 minutes. The parking bays are only kept exclusively for residents’ use for an hour and a half on weekday evenings and for three-and-a-half hours on Saturdays. On Sundays, parking is free.

Westfield, meanwhile, will have 4500 car parking spaces in a three-level underground car park. The shopping centre is due to be open from 9am to 9pm from Monday to Saturday and 12pm to 6pm on Sundays. Some restaurants will stay open until midnight.

"We are very aware that residents want to know what effects Westfield will have in their streets and so we will be carrying out parking surveys before and after the opening of the Westfield Centre to find out what impact it might have on parking in the surrounding area, said Councillor Nicholas Botterill, deputy leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council and cabinet member for environment.

”We will carry out the first survey in September and then another once the centre has opened, before holding a full consultation with local people in late spring." 

We asked Westfield to clarify how much it was likely to cost to park inside the shopping centre car park but received no reply.

However, Cllr Botterill indicated that parking charges at Westfield had not yet been finalised: "The council is working closely with Westfield to agree a rate for parking at the centre that will not adversely affect parking in streets nearby," he said. 

Yasmine Estaphanos 

23 July 2008