Slashing Commuter Tyres in Epping!

   

                 

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• (November 23, 2010, 07:14:21 PM)

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[admin]

http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/eppingforest/eppingforestnews/display.var.2080328.0.epping_tyres_slashed_in_parking_row.php

Unbelievable! Why would anyone think that it is acceptable to damage people's vehicles on public roads?

Don't like it? Go live on a farm.

Nimbyism is you ask me.



Admin

[thornwoodmum]

This car parking malarky is a joke at the station.

My other half has resorted to using a scooter and parking there... which means he gets more time in the morning as he doesn't need to get there til 8am. 

I do think it's bad that the council have painted so many yellow lines in the surrounding roads!  i really think that the Central line should be extended again to north weald and ongar to share some of Epping's load.....

[admin]

Yeah, I used to use a Yamaha TW125 bike to get to my nearest Tube station before moving to Epping. It saved so much time and money it was great, but it's quite scary sometimes with all the nutty people. It's now been gathering dust for 3 months in our garage so will be up for sale this weekend methinks. Even though I just spent 300 quid replacing parts to get it tip-top, it still more than paid for itself in a year.

Back to parking - I suppose living in an overcrowded place like I did, I was more used to seeing cars always in front of our house. I think it bugs some of our neighbours (but not on the phantom slasher's road cos I haven't seen any cops or anything here :-) but it doesn't bother me at all. Good luck to em, they've paid tax the same as me. Same rights for everyone isn't it?

Now turning St. Margarets into a car park and ride thingy instead of those nasty flats nobody will choose to live in for more than a year or two sounds much better. If only we could encourage some later shop opening hours it might reignite the town centre.

Enough rambling by me.


Admin

[Macspur]

I don't think slashing peoples tyres is the right thing to do, but I can understand why people do it. I used to live in Hemnall Street, and most of the commuters that parked there were considerate, but you would still get the odd person parking outside with their stereo blaring at 6.30am or partially blocking peoples drives. On my morning walk down to the station I used to see commuters casually leaving their cars in Epping Sports centre car park (which only has about 20 spaces) and collect the car about 6pm, other commuters used to park their cars on the pavement at the top of Nichol Road so that mothers with pushchairs would have to use the road to navigate around the parked cars. These people have no consideration for anyone apart from themselves.

Now I'm sorry, if you can't afford the car park fees then you really need to get another job. If the car park is always full, then you need to get their earlier, or park at another station. Please don't all get scooters though cos the scooter parking bay is already getting a bit crowded  .

[Ben Murphy]

I'm fascinated by this site and the issues which are being discussed.

As the Deputy Mayor of Epping, I'm always keen to receive message from local residents on the issues which are effecting them.

Parking is clearly a big issue for people living in, or commuting into Epping.  It is an issue to which there is no simple, workable, affordable solution.

We clearly need to recognise the fact that Epping is a commuter town and, to a reasonable degree, we need to accommodate commuters, whilst also protecting the needs of local residents.

The fact that there is now not enough parking available within the town to accommodate the huge influx of commuters needs to be looked at and I’m trying to work with Transport for London to do so. I have specifically requested the introduction of a two-tier car park at Epping Station, but have been informed that such a move is contrary to the London Mayor’s policy to get people out of their cars and onto public services, even though this could potentially make a lot of money for TfL.  My correspondence with the Mayor of London and the Managing Director of London Underground continues on this issue.

Perhaps other people would like to share their thoughts with Tim O’Toole, the Managing Director of London Underground Limited.

Alternative, if any residents have any specific ideas on how to make improvements, please do let me know.

With very best wishes,

Ben Murphy

[admin]

Hi,

Welcome. The site has started out a few days back and it's great to have someone who is involved in shaping Epping post here.

We're still trying to see how we can promote the forum to a wider audience given our bank balance of zero but we'll keep on!

There's been a sudden increase down my road this week following the incidents in the paper. I think a few people wherever the incident occurred have decided to find space down our road.

I saw a commuter pull up in a car the other morning, radio blaring out at 7.15 in the morning and just left it going whilst parking up. It was very loud and would have woken the dead (well almost  ).

It made me think that the commuter inconvenience is also a two way street. The drivers need to respect the areas providing them with safe havens for parking as much as residents need to accommodate the fact of Epping being a commuter town.

I still wouldn't go for resident permits unless they were very very cheap, as in my old haunt, they were just another form of Council Tax hikes - everyone had to have one and they cost hundreds a year. I also don't really want to live in a road peppered with parking signs, bays, humps and an army of parking attendants. Been there, done that, don't want the added hassle.

[Macspur]

I have specifically requested the introduction of a two-tier car park at Epping Station, but have been informed that such a move is contrary to the London Mayor’s policy to get people out of their cars and onto public services,

Great to have the Deputy Mayor involved in the Forum.

Ben, the thing is that people are getting out of their cars and onto public transport, which is why they're leaving their cars near the station to avoid driving into London.
I think perhaps the London Mayor needs to realise that many people live in rural areas with no transport links to their local train stations.
I'm one of the fortunate ones, I have a bus that runs past the end of my road. But the fares from Thornwood to Epping Station are £2 each way! That's £4 per day when the parking at Epping Station is £2.50 per day!

Maybe the bus fares need to be looked into, because personally I think they're astronomical for the service they provide, I wouldn't mind if they are modern air-conditioned buses, but some of these buses are ancient.

Also, maybe the council could come up with a scheme encouraging people who have empty driveways at home during the day could rent them out to commuters, maybe a discount on their concil tax would encourage people to rent out their empty driveways. 

Macspur

[Ben Murphy]

Macspur...always willing to answer questions where I can!

Yes, I completely appreciate the financial situation regarding parking.  I think you'll find all day parking at Epping Station is actually £3.50, but still your point is valid.

You point relating to public transport is also valid and in Essex, we outsource all of our public transport to private suppliers.  On the whole, residents in our rural villages in Epping Forest are unable to walk to a bus stop which will bring them to their nearest underground station.  We also have to bare in mind that a car is much more comfortable for many residents.  I agree that some work should be done to further publicise the availability of bus routes in this area though and will endeavour to do some work on this in the weeks ahead.  To come back to your comment regarding the price of busses, you're right, but as this is a private contractor, Essex County Council don't set the price, the contractor does.  Unfortunately there is no cheaper alternative available at this time (as far as I am aware).

On the driveways issue, this has been looked into in the past 12 months.  In fact, it was even looked into by local Police Officers trying to avoid paying to park in the the town's car park, but there were several problems.  Insurance being a big one.  On the whole, residents were very unsupportive of this scheme and it was agreed to drop it.

Admin...Thank you.  It's always good to hear new views and ideas on issues effecting the local community.

Regarding the unthoughtful commuter who parked outside your house early in the morning with music playing loudly, in future please do take a note of the registration number and pass this on to Epping Police Station who can monitor the situation and issue warnings.  I absolutely agree with your comment relating to mutual respect!

We don't want to see the whole of our town regulated with resident only parking, but it will always have to remain a possibility to ensure we are able to provide an adequate level of parking for local people.  For information, I believe those residents who do have parking permits pay £70 per year.

[ceejay]

Hooray - my first post too 
In this day & age online forums like this are exactly what we need to discuss community issues.

RE: Tyre Slashing. I was shocked to read this in the Guardian as i'm pretty sure it relates to the streets near my house. The parking problems have happened since the restriction changes were implemented, and streets which were previously free of commuter cars have now been suddenly affected by the cars displaced from streets nearer the station. People are now leaving bins and things in the street to try and keep their drives clear. Tyre Slashing is just unacceptable - losing your parking space outside your house is no excuse for criminal damage 

It doesn't seem that the District Council or their traffic consultants expected people to walk as far as they are to avoid paying for parking. I did email Essex CC (who control roads) to ask when the promised '6 month' parking review of the impact would take place, but they passed the buck to the District Council who were 'responsible for funding the review'. Two tier council is great for buck passing!

Bens suggestion for a two tier car park at the station is interesting, but there is the risk that it would only act as a stop gap. From the paper it seems that some of the commuters would not want to pay for parking even if there was space available.

However, I don't see how a bigger car park should worry Mayor Ken at all, as any increase in traffic would be totally outside his area of responsibility (i.e. Greater London). It's not as if TfL provide any alternative for these particular commuters anyway as they all come from further out into Essex where there are no TfL alternative services at all. Providing extra parking in Epping is actually preventing those very cars driving into Greater London in the first place. TfL can only benefit from the increase in revenues from tickets and parking.

Maybe the car park operators would be interested in stumpting up some of the investment for a bigger cut in the revenue?

[Ben Murphy]

Hello Ceejay.

Perhaps I could actually help with some of your issues.

Regarding your comment suggesting the parking problems have only begun since the Epping Parking Review took place and new regulations were set isn't actually quite acurate.  Areas such as Kendall Avenue, The Orchards, Bower Vale, Bower Hill, Allnuts, Nicholl Road and Centre Drive were all heavily congested and the residents in these areas made very valid points for the introduction of parking regulations.  There were a huge number of commuters simply parking across residents driveways and blocking them in all day.  Totally unacceptable.  Of course, the result of the regulations is that the problem has simply been pushed elsewhere in the town.  In fact, there is now evidence that suggests that commuters who would usually park in Epping, now travel to Theydon Bois, Debden, Loughton and Buckhurst Hill to find places to park instead.

On the tire slashing, the Police have acted very quickly on this and have put out very clear warnings to local residents.  Since these have been issued there have been no further reports of this happening.

To answer your questions regarding the 6 month parking review; this is now underway.  You can contact the County Council's Highways department with your comments and / suggestions on improvements by emailing highways.westarea@essexcc.gov.uk or calling them on 0845 603 7621.  Please don't hesitate to let me know if you don't get a response.

Regarding some commuters not wanting to pay for parking, of course, this will always be the case and, unless we introduce resident only parking throughout the town, there is no way to deal with this.  Of course, by doing this we are penalising local residents by having to charge them an annual fee, which defeats the object a bit really.

I have no doubt the park parking contractors would be very interested indeed to pay for the development of a two-tier car park at Epping's Station; it's a sound financial investment.  However, the land remains under the ownership of TfL and until they agree, we're stuck at the first base!

[ceejay]

Ben,

I live in the area you mention (Allnuts). However, the parking review didn't affect my street directly - the yellow lines went in on Bower Hill & The Orchards, but because we didn't get any new lines (or just a few small ones on corners) our streets were the obvious next place to park. So the driving blocking problems you mention still exist despite the review, albeit a lot worse than before.

So, the next step has to be more yellow lines (valid for say 1 hour in the middle of the day), across every single driveway entrance I suggest. Can't think of any other way except the permits which you want to avoid.

I'll try emailing Essex CC again, but the email address you give is the same one I used last time   
I'm also a bit surprised that the parking review is now underway as we haven't has anything through our doors - the chap at Essex CC has said we would automatically get notification!

I don't think you are going to have much joy with TfL at present - they have zero money left for new capital investments because of the Metronet fiasco! However, if others were prepared to put up the investment (e.g. the parking contractor or the County Council, who subsidise the tube line north of Woodford) it might be a different matter 

[Ben Murphy]

Ceejay,

I appreciate entirely what you are saying.

It's not that I want to advoid new regulations, it's that residents are telling me they do.

Hmm...concerned at the automatic notifications.  From what I understand, this is to be a different type of review.  Last time there was a large-scale consultation which cost an enormous amount of money.  Obviously, many residents have already shared their praise or concerns since implementation so it was believed there wasn't such a need to review quite so extensively. You can email Councillor Andy Green, the District Council's portfolio holder for parking on a.green66@btinternet.com with any concerns and please do explain to him that you've shared your thoughts with the County Council's Highways Department without reply.  I know that the review will be done street-by-street, so it may well be that they will notify you when they come to Allnuts.

Please keep me posted if you don't have any joy.

[ceejay]

Ben,

Just looked back in my Inbox and it was last November that I emailed them (time flies!). I was mainly asking when the review would be held, but did explain some of the issues that had arisen. I did get a response however from the Traffic Technician:

The situation is that Epping Forest District Council [EFDC] designed [in conjunction with external consultants], promoted and funded the Epping Parking Review.
The role of Essex County Council [ECC] as the highway authority was to implement the various restrictions throughout the Epping area.

The 6 month review, to which you referred, will be funded by EFDC however at the time of writing no information has been provided regarding the format or extent of the review process and in view of this I regret that I am unable to answer your specific enquiry, however I can confirm that some roads, including Charles Street, Warren Field and Allnutts Road will automatically be included in the review.

So you can perhaps see why I expected something through the door (even though it doesn't actually say that would happen). I'll drop Cllr Green an email as suggested.

[Ben Murphy]

There is such an enormous amount of correspondence relating to this and such a short amount of time and money available to deal with the issues, there may have been a view taken that they should deal with what is on their plate at the moment, not go looking for more.  If you contact Andy he will advise you further on this.

[goblin]

So many places on the contninent use car / bike sharing as a matter of course in peoples daily lives.
My best friend in Germany used to car share to and from University in London to reduce costs and impact on the environment. She did this for 5 years meeting lots or weird and wonderful people along the way. Everyone using the system was logged and registered (easier as they have identity cards) and so it was always pretty safe too.

Go to http://www.carshare.com/default.asp?region=8#carsharesites

Does Essex / Epping have a car share facility or rather could it ? Surely the answer is yes if only either Essex CC or the Town Council initiated it.

Or why not have bike stations as they do in Berlin? I think red Ken is also thinking of something similar in the city. You spot a stand with an Orange bike on it and off you go, leaving the bike where ever you end up for somebody else to use. Not so good on a wet winters day, but a good way to travel to the station in summer if you are just a couple of miles away. I guess you just have to hope there is a bike when you return. Or maybe a good business opportunity 'stationrentabike' or 'eppingrentabike'

Just my green thoughts for the day !!!!!

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