Underhill CPZ hours under review after petition presented to council

The petition received 1,377 signatures by the time it was submitted to Barnet Council, reports Joe Ives, Local Democracy Reporter

Mays Pets in Mays Lane, Underhill (credit Google)

Barnet Council will review the hours of a controlled parking zone (CPZ) in Underhill following pushback describing it as “aggressive” and harmful to local businesses.

The move follows concerns raised on behalf of residents and six businesses in Mays Lane at the local authority’s cabinet meeting on Monday (15th).

A petition titled “Stop Barnet Council from killing trade due to parking charges” received 1,377 signatures by the time it was submitted on 18th March.

Addressing cabinet on Monday, Gina Theodoru, one of two lead petitioners, said the controlled parking hours in Mays Lane street were “disproportionate” and directly affecting shops whose “survival depends entirely on convenience and brief customer stops”.

Currently, visitors parking in Mays Lane need to pay between 8am and 6:30pm, Monday to Saturday. Theodoru argued these restrictions are “vastly more aggressive” than those in the surrounding Chipping Barnet CPZ, which only operate for one hour, from 2pm to 3pm, Monday to Friday.

She added that there was “zero evidence” that local businesses wanted these restrictions or believed they were helping trade through higher parking turnover. Theodoru argued that, in fact, the opposite was true, and relayed reports from some of the businesses on the parade.

These included a response from Mays Pets, the last independent pet shop in Barnet. According to Theodoru, the pet shop said that parking charges, double yellow lines and reduced parking spaces had led to “a 50% loss of takings” and meant the business had to lay off long-serving staff.

Theodoru also noted that, while not condoning vandalism, the fact that some parking signs had been repeatedly painted over “demonstrates the depth of local anger and a complete lack of public confidence”.

She asked the cabinet to introduce fairer parking charges, arguing that “across Underhill residents feel completely ignored” and urged cabinet members to “listen before more harm is done”.

“Once these shops are gone they cannot be replaced,” Theodoru warned.

Underhill ward councillor Josh Tapper also spoke at the meeting, urging his senior Labour colleagues to take action.

Cllr Tapper said: “It’s really important that we see a positive outcome to respond to these concerns, one that incentivises local people to support and use our local businesses on Mays Lane whilst also deterring all day parking.”

Both Theodoru and Cllr Tapper asked the local authority to consider adjusting the parking charge period on Mays Lane to between 2pm-3pm, making it in line with the hours of the Chipping Barnet CPZ.

Alan Schneiderman, the Labour-run council’s cabinet member for environment and climate change, responded that he was “aware” of the concerns raised by the parking charges.

Cllr Schneiderman said the charges were introduced to ensure the street was not “an uncontrolled area where people could park all day”, adding: “That’s not actually going to help people who want to come and visit those traders.”

He said the local authority would be looking into responses from a recently-concluded public consultation on Barnet’s CPZs, which includes the one in Mays Lane.

Nevertheless, Cllr Schneiderman conceded that the suggestion to reduce Mays Lane’s parking restrictions to between 2pm and 3pm on weekdays “does make sense”.

This, he agreed, could still discourage people from leaving their cars there all day at the same time as reducing the impact on local businesses.

The cabinet member said he would be asking officers to assess this option and send back their findings within 20 days.

The council, Cllr Schneiderman concluded, was “keen to listen” and resolve the issue.

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