Hackney Council’s new parking controls ‘bad for business’ in Victoria Park

Hackney Town Hall. Photograph: Hackney Citizen

Controversial parking controls which won support from the majority of residents have been dubbed ‘draconian’ by traders.

The restrictions from 8.30am until 5pm from Monday to Friday have split the local community in Victoria Park Village.

Residents welcome new permit-only bays and pay and display areas, while shops are concerned these will have a negative impact on takings.

Joanna de Guia, Secretary of Victoria Park Trader’s Association and owner of Victoria Park Books, said: “We can’t afford to carry financial burden of their experiment.

“We are not big chains that can afford to ride ups and downs.

“The Victoria Park area looks very chi chi but that does not mean local businesses are raking it in financially, and we can ill afford to lose business.”

When locals were consulted about parking changes, they were asked to give their views on four proposals.

56 per cent said they wanted eight hours of restricted parking per day.

However, of the four options offered, the proposal to restrict parking for just two hours per day on week days won the largest share of the vote with 44 per cent stating their preference for this option.

18 per cent of those who responded to the consultation said they favoured weekday restrictions from 8.30am-5pm. 13 per cent said they wanted restrictions from 8.30am-6.30pm on weekdays. 25 per cent wanted 8.30am-6.30pm restrictions from Monday to Saturday.

The results of the consultation can be viewed here.

Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods Councillor Feryal Dermirci said the council was acting “to prevent the area being exploited by non-local motorists”.

She added: “The council has a duty to improve road safety and ensure a regular flow of traffic.

“We will be keeping this under review to make sure it is working as well as it can.”

The restrictions will be put in place from 24 March.

Lobby group Hackney Living Streets has said it wants to see more parking restrictions and ramped up charges.

In response to a recent government consultation Hackney Living Streets wrote that it wanted parking enforcement to be applied “more rigorously”, adding: “We are disappointed that this consultation on local authority parking addresses only parking enforcement and levels of parking revenue rather than broader parking issues that urgently need to be addressed.”

This article was amended at 9.16am on 28 February 2014 to provide more detail on the results of the consultation.