Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Traders fear parking charge rise from £2.80 to £6 will kill off shops
Traders in Harringay have hit out at parking charge hikes which they warn could spell the death of their high street by “driving away” potential customers. Shoppers will now have to shell out £6 to park for up to two hours on the stretch of Green Lanes next to the Harringay Ladder, and business-owners say the increase from £2.80 imposed by Haringey Council is already costing them dearly.
Clive Disney, 49, of Disney’s furniture shop, a family business which has been based in Grand Parade since 1913, told the Advertiser: “People are going to pull up to the meter, see the charge of £6 and drive off.
“This is going to have a really big impact, especially in the current trading situation. If times were good, it is something we would fight anyway but so many businesses are really struggling at the moment.
“Already we get so many people ringing up for a quote because they say they passed by and couldn’t find a parking meter or it was too expensive to stop.
“The trading estate is just up the road and it is free to park up there. We are supposed to compete on an even basis with those shops but it’s impossible.
“Once we have got the customers in the shop we can hopefully impress them with our service and the more personal experience of shopping at an independent, family-run shop like ours, but if we can’t get them in in the first place we don’t stand a chance.”
Shefik Mehmet, chairman of the Harringay Traders’ Association, called an emergency meeting of traders on Tuesday afternoon to address the issue.
He said: “I get calls every day from traders reporting back from their customers about parking problems. We are being classed the same as the Wood Green shopping centre area which is ridiculous. “This is going to make things very difficult for business-owners and we are going to see more shops closing.”
Councillor Nilgun Canver, cabinet member for neighbourhoods at the council, said that the rise in parking charges was the first since 2008.
“Careful consideration was given to the impact of the increased costs, and the changes were introduced in April following a consultation period, including a survey of visitors to the area,” she said.
“The popularity of Green Lanes as a shopping area means that demand for parking is very high. We hope that the new charges will encourage a turnover of use – discouraging drivers from taking spaces for too long and allowing more shoppers to visit the area, which will be of benefit to traders.”
Story from Haringey Advertiser
Tags for Forum Posts: high street parking, high streets
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Karen Alexander on
-
Like many local residents I am hugely disappointed with the council's decision to increase parking charges on Green Lanes to this level. There is no doubt this will cause damage to local traders as people look elsewhere to shop. When the decision was first agreed by the cabinet the Liberal Democrats "called" the decision in to be referred to the Overview & Scrutiny Committee (the council's watchdog committee) on which I also sit. There were many compelling arguments against the rise and the committee got the cabinet to agree to do an impact assessment before being referred back to the Labour administration for a decision. Not surprisingly the cabinet decided in their wisdom that increasing the charges was still the right thing to do despite massive opposition. So much for a council that professes to listen to its residents and helps them in tough times!
-
Permalink Reply by Angela on
-
I agree with others calling for a greater diversity of shops, and in particular food retailers. And tbh, some of the local shops are not exactly clean, tidy or tempting in what they have to offer.
I'm sure I remember 2 bakeries (Kossoff's??) which were very popular - one on Turnpike Lane itself and one near the tube station on WG High Road.
Apart from that, I don't drive and get by on a mixture of public transport and shank's pony (and increasingly, online shopping)
-
Permalink Reply by ElleCarumba on
-
Do local residents care about parking charges? If you live in Harringay, you surely don't drive to shop on Green Lanes.......and if they do drive down a ladder road to park on Green Lanes, then perhaps six quid will help deter them from being so wasteful.
So it is non-locals who are affected, along with the traders. Traders are naturally annoyed but then businesses shouldn't get to dictate to local residents what happens in an area either.
quite a few people (myself included) seem to be backing the idea that there should be no parking on Green Lanes at all. Free up the space for a bus lane, please.
That said, it is a really big jump in parking charges to make in one go. What do other places charge? Was Green Lanes just cheap to park on before?
-
Permalink Reply by HoL Site Admin on
-
For those interested, here is the official record (with links) of the parking charges decision and the LibDem challenge.
-
Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
-
I agree with the main point made by Michelle vonAhn about the impact on traders. Though neither legally nor ethically can the Council's parking policies be solely about supporting local traders. As Karen Alexander said, the LibDems 'called-in' the Cabinet decision to raise pay-&-display parking charges. I was equally unsuccessful in persuading my Labour colleagues to think again both about on-street meter charges and raising CPZ charges to generate an even bigger surplus. But I’m also very well aware of the Government’s punitive cuts; and the need to find money for services residents want.
I'm not even convinced that the new level of on-street charges will maximise income generation. As Michelle pointed out, people have choices about where they shop and - if they go by car - where they park. And this includes large stores with free carparks.
But as JulieB’s and Angela's comments show it also applies to internet purchases. Nationally the pattern of retail trading continues to change with more megastores opening and greater use of the internet. A few weeks ago we went to Jessops in Wood Green to look at a camera they’d advertised. Not only was it not in stock, but if ordered would cost £30 more than their online price.
One reason I'm finding this thread fascinating is because it links to a wider discussion in communities across the UK. Including of course, the valuable nef Clone Town Britain debate and its publication Reimagining The High Street.
Nef gave Shepherds Bush as an example where independent shops are still significant. (Although the full impact of the Westfield Centre may change that.) I used to know Shepherds Bush and it seemed to me that its strong showing of independent stores depended a lot on ethnic communities. And I don't just mean the market.
When JeremyS asks us to “increase the diversity”, I’m wondering who "us" is. People don't open High Street businesses to make a loss. I wonder how many members of HoL would put their own money into an independent store right now.
(Labour councillor Tottenham Hale ward)
-
Permalink Reply by Danzigger on
-
I completely agree that there are too many samey shops on Green Lanes - nail bars, hair salons, Turkish jewelry are all over represented. But more than the lack of variety it's the amount of traffic that puts me off shopping there. Who'd buy veg that sits in that fug of traffic fumes? And who'd want to sit out on the street for a coffee with that constant din of cars and horns?
I know this has been argued back and forth for ever in these forums, but if the total amount of traffic could be drastically cut by whatever means, then traders might find more local people would enjoy shopping there. If high parking charges mean fewer cars, then I'm all in favour.
-
Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
-
Get it all pedestrianised and then the current traffic can use Wightman.
-
Permalink Reply by John D on
-
So it would be better if cars choked Wightman which is narrower and much more residential ?
-
-
Locals should stop whinging about the product on offer in the shops and just start spending some money there. Do you want a street of empty shops? Do you want a countrty of mega stores and chain stores?
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
