As TfL commenced worked on the station upgrade this week, a community group raised concerns about closure of the Watling Avenue site, reports David Floyd
Barnet Council says it “can’t be precise” about “whether or when” a station car park will reopen after it was closed to enable the provision of step-free access.
The Burnt Oak Station car park in Watling Avenue was closed on Monday (24th August) after TfL began work at the station which is expected to take until winter 2027/28.
Following the closure, a community group has raised concerns about the impact on local businesses and disabled motorists, as well as drivers of electronic vehicles, who had used the car park’s charging points.
Tony Allan, co-chair of Edgware Community Association, said: “We strongly support step-free access at Burnt Oak and are very pleased to see this investment in the station.
“At the same time, losing almost 200 parking spaces for around 18 months is a significant change for the town centre. We want to understand what assessment has been made of the effect on local businesses and residents, what mitigation is being provided and whether parts of the car park could remain available or reopen as the works progress.
“Most importantly, people would like some clarity about when the car park will return to public use.”
Barnet Post contacted the council to request a response to the group’s concerns.
A council spokesperson told the Post: “We strongly support installation of step free access, which will be a huge and lasting benefit to local residents.
“Unfortunately, this has required us to temporarily close Watling Avenue car park, which we realise will cause some inconvenience while the work is done. We have done this because we have been advised that it would not be safe to mix work traffic and heavy machinery with general vehicles and pedestrians while this major engineering project is under way.
“Ward councillors met with Tfl and Council officers to explore if there was any way of any part of the car park being kept open and unfortunately this wasn’t possible because of the safety issues.”
On the question of how long the car park would be closed, the spokesperson said: “TfL have said that the work will take between now and the winter of 2027/8. We can’t be precise at the moment about whether or when the car park will reopen right now, particularly given there are development proposals affecting the car park. We will say more as soon as we can.”
On the assessment of the impact of the car park’s closure, they added: “While Burnt Oak is a very well used station that most users access on foot, we have looked at patterns of use of the car park which suggest it is well used by people who go on to use the station.
“We have worked with Transport for London to make sure their customers are informed of the closure and of alternative car parks near stations in the area they can use instead. We will ensure that surrounding roads are regularly patrolled by Civil Enforcement Officers to identify and act on any increase in illegal parking.”
When asked about mitigation measures for disabled motorists and EV users, the spokesperson said: “For disabled drivers, we are consulting on provision of two additional Blue Badge spaces on Watling Avenue, near Barnfield Road. Of course Blue Badge holders can legally park free in any paid for on-street parking bays or residential/shared use bays in a controlled parking zone without time limit and for up to three hours on single yellow lines, subject to not causing an obstruction and loading restriction times.
“For EV users, we have not been able to find locations in the immediate area suitable for alternative charging facilities. But the Council has installed over 2,000 EV charge points across the borough and anyone wanting to find the nearest alternative location can do so using Zapmap (https://www.zapmap.com/live).”
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