Barnet Council is planning to start a six-month trial of the controlled parking zone from the end of this month, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

CPZs allow residents with permits to park in marked-out bays

Hundreds of people are opposing plans for a six-month trial of a controlled parking zone (CPZ) in Colindale.

The proposed Colindale South CPZ is set to be enforced from Monday, 27th October for six months. It will restrict parking on residential streets between 8am and 6.30pm.

However, resident Parbin Ahmed who launched two petitions against the scheme claims “the majority of people can’t understand why it’s going ahead”.

The council’s consultation page shows of the 1,800 letters that were sent out, it received 220 responses. Of those, only 30% supported the scheme, while 63% opposed it and 5% were unsure.

To date, Parbin’s online petition has received 182 signatures, while a hard copy has received 101.

Parbin said: “When I knocked on doors many people were unaware there was a consultation, they didn’t get any notification one was going ahead.

“The majority of residents don’t want it, there’s a lot of elderly people in the area who have lots of family and friends visiting, it’s just not needed.

“We are not against restrictions but not for a full day, this is why we can’t understand why the council is going ahead for a full day permit.

“Yes, a few residents do have problems with people parking and going to work at the end of the street so what we’ve suggested is the council have the scheme in place for an hour a day and see how that works.”

A council spokesperson said: “We are introducing this CPZ after requests were received by the council to address parking problems in the area.

“We will assess its effectiveness, and the feedback of residents, over a six-month period before deciding whether or not to make it permanent.”

Parbin pointed out that a similar scheme was proposed in 2017 but ultimately rejected.

“We do understand there is a lot of development in the area,” she said. “Because of that there will be parking issues but I think one hour day is sufficient for us as a trial period, it’s worked in other built up areas.”

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