More than 100 angry Croxley Green and Rickmansworth residents packed the Three Rivers District Council (TRDC) chamber recently to back six separate petitions against a controversial new permit parking scheme.
The extent of local outrage against the proposal led to councillors hastily changing their consultative meeting rules.
During the meeting on Tuesday, September 25, they agreed to allow all six petitions, supported by nearly 500 signatures, to be presented to the council instead of the usual limit of three.
The council proposes to issue additional parking permits to allow local business employees to park in existing residential permit bays, effectively charging drivers twice for the same bay.
Representatives from six neighbourhoods in Croxley Green and Rickmansworth areas voiced their widespread safety and environmental concerns to waves of applause from the public gallery.
Speaker after speaker challenged the council’s rationale for the scheme, claiming that it was based on inaccurate and misleading survey data and would lead to rush-hour traffic chaos.
But representatives of Park Way, Dickinson Square, Frankland Road, Talbot Road, Cedars Avenue, Nightingale Road, Uxbridge Road and Money Hill Road argued that the scheme would increase traffic congestion from 8am, block their driveways and restrict access for emergency vehicles and other essential services.
They claimed that existing permit bays introduced to deter commuter parking were adequate and should not be changed.
The meeting chairman said the council would carefully consider the petitions and report back later.
However, many residents later called for a full council debate into the parking proposal to prevent it being pushed through in private by senior council officers to prevent further public opposition.
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