Crossfields Parking Survey

Oh dear. There only has to be one person ringing Lewisham Homes to enquire why their visitor can't find a parking space because they're all taken up by MITIE workers, and it's an excuse to try and roll out the Parking Survey again.

We voted NO the last time we were asked in September 2012. Only 47 replied (out of a potential 364) and only 15 were in favour (with some reservations – see previous posts here, here and here).

There are a couple of points to note here:

• Even if you don't own a car you will still need a permit for your visitors, which may include relatives, friends or care workers – so the survey applies to you too

•  You could be clamped for forgetting to renew your permit or not displaying a valid tax disc, or for simply going over the time allowance of the permit

There are some stories going around about how much residents pay on other estates – and that it is much more than the £10-£15 quoted by the Lewisham Homes' Tenancy Officer in the survey. We know, for instance that residents in Reginald Road pay at least £85, but they are having to park in the street. However, parking on Evelyn Estate (within the estate and not on the road) costs only £10 a year.

Presently, parking is at capacity on the estate during weekday working hours and half empty at the weekends, so is obviously used by non-residents. Although the MITIE workers are gone (temporarily at least before they return to do 'external works') and some of the business tenants at Faircharm Trading Estate who used to park here have left, the MITIE compound which is taking up a lot of parking bays is not causing the problems it did previously. High street shoppers continue to park on the estate especially on market days.

But perhaps there is another reason why the issue has come up again (apart from the alleged 'enquiries from residents' stated in the letter). There is soon going to be a lot of new development construction work going on in the immediate area at Faircharm Trading Estate, Belway Homes and Creekside Village. There will also probably be work at the Thames Tunnel site on Deptford Church Street if local campaigners lose the battle against it.

Construction workers from The Movement development on the other side of Deptford Creek were originally parking close to that development – in fact they were parking on the Ha'Penny Hatch footpath to Norman Road. Greenwich Council stopped that, so they started parking in Creekside. You can spot them walking back to their cars in the afternoon.

With the Thames Tunnel site, Lewisham Council are negotiating for money from Thames Water to set up a Controlled Parking Zone around the Laban and Berthon Street. This will no doubt form part of any negotiations with Bellway Homes next to the Laban and fit in with the Creekside Village development behind the Laban. With the Faircharm redevelopment soon to create up to 90 lorry runs a day on Creekside, this will probably prompt the extension of a CPZ to the south of Creekside. If Crossfields does not have a Parking Scheme, construction workers will use our spaces.

Perhaps we should point out that since Crossfields residents will be suffering an intolerable level of noise and pollution from a massive increase in HGV traffic in both Creekside and Deptford Church Street, the developers should actually be paying for us to be immune from any parking charges whatsoever.

The survey needs to be returned using the FREEPOST address supplied by March 24th.