More parking chaos in store as new restrictions are several weeks away
Shepherd’s Bush residents are bracing themselves for another weekend of traffic chaos after thousands of Westfield shoppers chose to drive into the area last weekend, clogging up the streets and making it impossible to park.
On Saturday, there was slow-moving traffic around Shepherd’s Bush Green and on Wood Lane, Uxbridge Road and Holland Road and on Sunday, when parking is free in some parking zones, there were no free bays in any of the streets surrounding Westfield – and in several side streets further down the Uxbridge Road too.
This weekend could see even more people come to W12, as Queen’s Park Rangers will be playing Cardiff City at their Loftus Road home on Saturday. 13,600 people attended their last home match at the end of October.
Sasha Bates, who lives very close to the new shopping centre, says the parking situation last weekend was chaotic. “Everyone going to Westfield of course cottoned on to the fact that on Sunday our streets are free whilst Westfield charges, and so Sterne Street, where I live, and all the neighbouring streets were chock-a-block with cars. I didn't take my own car out as I knew that it would be impossible to find a space on my return. I am extremely worried and upset and angry about the coming weekend, and all weekends to come.”
Dominic Thomas also lives right next to Westfield: “The parking at the weekend was bad and by Sunday morning there was nowhere at all to park. I live in Macfarlane Road opposite two of the three entrances to Westfield and it took me 10 minutes to drive out of the street because of visitors to the centre looking for somewhere to park. The congestion was awful. I am very concerned about the number of visitors to the area. The presence of subcontractors, particularly over the past couple of months, made life for us very miserable," he said.
"Zone G already has residents’ parking in the evenings and we are demanding that this is extended to mirror the opening hours of Westfield, and be enforced seven days a week,” he added.
With all the new transport links in the area, Westfield estimates that more than 60 percent of visitors will arrive by public transport. This week, they announced that 500,000 people had visited the shopping centre on the first four days, travelling in by a variety of means. But despite their “state-of-the-art parking technology,” they were unable to tell us how many cars had actually parked in their 4,500 space car park. “The car parks ran smoothly and were busy throughout the opening period,” a Westfield spokesperson said.
But Dominic Thomas said his experience of the Westfield car park was not so positive: “As part of an experiment I parked in the Westfield car park this Saturday at 8pm. It cost more to park there than on the street, took me 25 minutes to pay for my ticket and took a further 45 minutes to exit the car park. Anyone who experienced this fiasco will surely be tempted to look for alternative parking in the future.”
After months of complaints and concerns expressed by residents, who predicted the current parking problems, the Council have finally announced that parking rules around Westfield are to be changed – but it could take weeks for the new measures to come into effect.
Using what it refers to as “emergency powers”, a Council statement says changes will be made to Zone G, where parking is currently free on Sundays: “The current Saturday controls will be brought in on Sundays in Controlled Parking Zone G, which are the worst affected streets around Westfield. Between 2:00-4:00pm and 6:30-8:00pm only residents and business permit holders and their visitors will be able to park,” the statement says.
But the Council say the changes will not come into effect until four weeks’ time at the earliest, due to “unavoidable legal red-tape, like advertising new traffic orders and displaying statutory parking notices”.
Councillor Nicholas Botterill, H&F Council Deputy Leader, said: "We have made the decision to fast-track these simple changes in the worst affected streets around Westfield so they are not clogged up with Westfield's shoppers and staff on Sundays. Officers are now moving swiftly to bring in changes that will benefit local residents and business permit holders,” he said.
The Council say a full public consultation with residents and local businesses, on additional controls in all the parking zones around Westfield, will follow.
Yasmine Estaphanos
5 November 2008
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