The controlled parking zone would cover parts of Mays Lane and surrounding roads but residents claim it’s not needed, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

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

More than 700 residents in Barnet’s Underhill ward have signed an online petition protesting Barnet Council’s plans to introduce a controlled parking zone (CPZ).

The council has proposed introducing restrictions on parts of Mays Lane and surrounding roads to help ease “extremely high levels of parking stress”.

In the lead-up to a consultation, held over summer, the council said it had received “complaints and petitions” about parking displacement and safety concerns “south of Barnet Hospital” and “particularly in the Mays Lane area”.

Initially, the council considered expanding the existing Barnet Hospital CPZ, which sits north of the proposed area, but it was agreed this was not a “viable option” as it could cause “increased congestion” and be complex to implement and enforce.

The new CPZ, called Underhill South, would operate at the same time as the Barnet Hospital CPZ, from Monday to Saturday, between 8am and 6.30pm, and ensure “consistent parking management across a wider area”.

However, Jon Woolfson, founder of the Underhill Residents Group, who launched the petition which has 734 signatures, has said opposition to this new CPZ was overwhelming.

He said: “There might be some residents who might have an issue with hospital parking but the vast majority of people who live either side of Mays Lane do not experience any difficulty in parking and have not complained to the council.

“We are very concerned about the accuracy of the council’s claim that there are ‘extremely high levels of parking stress in most roads within the proposed area’ and we are calling on the council’s highway department to publish details of their survey.”

Although official results have yet to be published a summary of responses to the consultation showed of the 471 people who responded, 400 were against the proposal while 49 supported it.

In response to the level of parking problems experienced, 333 said they “never” experienced parking problems, while 90 answered “sometimes” and 46 responded “always”.

In response to the petition, a council spokesperson said: “We are reviewing the outcome of the informal parking engagement and other feasibility studies to determine the requirement for parking controls in the area.

“As soon as a decision has been made an update will be provided to all residents and business owners in the informal parking engagement area of the next steps.”

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