Wimbledon Common West Feedback
This section is intended to let local residents voice their opinions about what is happening in the WCWRA area. We havent got feedback from residents for this section for a couple of years (which is why the entries are so old). Please do contact us with your views. We are happy to post them anonamously if you wish.
March 06 : Planning application on 4 Southside - Round 2 : Maureen Stopher, Southside Common
There is a new application 06/P0497 to demolish 4 Southside and erect a new building of 7 appartments on 4 floors which has been submitted to London Borough of Merton and this can be viewed on line through London Borough of Merton’s Planning Applications On-Line using the External Explorer site
December 05 : Call to raise concerns over changes : Vivien Reuter, Westside Common : Wimbledon Guardian 1/12/05
In the face of overwhelming opposition from local residents and visitors, the council is determined to limit access to Wimbledon Common, Cannizaro, the golf club and the Fox and Grapes. It has just produced a cynical new proposal to introduce a totally unnecessary mini-CPZ in Camp Road, which is certain to have a devastating impact. The final decision is to be made at a council meeting on December 6. All those wishing to preserve the spirit of this unique environment are called upon to attend and voice their concern.
October 05 : Alternative offered to money making scheme : Vivien Reuter, Wimbledon. Wimbledon Guardian 27/10/05
The subject raised on your letters page : Conservators against CPZs is another money making exercise on the part of Merton Council.
No wonder, considering the sums it wastes. For example, one of the reasons officers claim to need double yellow lines at the junctions of Westside Common and Camp Road is to provide turning space for a bus that comes once a week to transport between three and six elderly residents of Camp Road Almshouses down to the station. The bus in question has a capacity for 47 passengers and comes from Dartford in Kent, effectively to make the short trip across the green to Wimbledon Village, where there is ample public transport available.
Small wonder the bus company considers the contract a "plum job". The bus is always late, sometimes by up to an hour, and the residents wait at the corner, rain or shine. The pick up point for the return journey is behind Safeway, requiring them to drag their full shopping carts a considerable distance.
A far better service could be arranged at a fraction of the cost by arranging for two black cabs from the station to go from the almshouses to the station and back - even twice a week, rather than once.
October 05 : Proposed parking restrictions are motivated by greed : MD Dunn, Claygate : WImbledon Guardian 27/10/05
As a member of Wimbledon Common Golf Club I am dismayed by the proposal to introduce parking restrictions in the area.
It will have a damaging effect on our recreation and the others who enjoy the common. A round of golf cannot normally be completed within four hours. I have seen no evidence that commuters park in the Camp Road area but if this is thought to be a problem the simple solution is to ban parking (except for residents) during the morning rush.
This works well in the other localities suggesting the councils enthusiasm for meters is motivated by greed. I know the council has received a significant number of reasoned objections to its plan and I should like to see them reveal how many letters of support it has received.
The idea of CPZs around WImbledon Common is in direct contradiction with the claim on the council web site that it wants to "make it easier for local people to park and to make our streets cleaner, safer and more accessible for all".
How can this be when, as a result of the spreading cancer of CPZs across the borough, the reduction of parking capacity and displacement parking problems caused by them just multiply.
Should these latest proposals come into force, parking will be reduced in the area by 50 per cent. This will have a detrimental effect not only on visitors to the common, Cannizaro Park, the golf clubs and Fox and Grapes, but more so to the residents in the area, such as Sycamore Road, who have no off street parking facilities, and no option of further ruining the appearance of the area by knocking down their front walls and laying a hard standing, in this supposed conservation area. Much is made of the "need" for CPZs on "safety grounds. The accident figures for the area currently under consultation do not indicate a high risk. If the need is for emergency services to gain access, why then is safety only a concern between 8.30am and 6.30pm.
Commuter parking is also a term used liberally in the argument for the introduction of these schemes. Surveys carried out in this area suggest the problem is nearly non existent and is being used to frighten residents and businesses alike into believing a CPZ is the only way to ensure a parking space.
Unfortunately residents' parking does not mean a space will always be available for any particular individual. For the good of Wimbledon generally, these CPZs need to be stopped or indeed taken out.
The problems we are experiencing now are as a direct consequence of their introduction