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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Campaign for 30 minutes of free parking on Green Lanes: Is this localism?

Local Lib Dems on Green Lanes last weekend (Photo via Flickr)

The Harringay Traders organisation have long campaigned for cheaper parking on Green Lanes. Last weekend the Haringey Lib Dems launched their campaign supporting this demand with a call for 30 minutes of free parking on Green Lanes.

Some argue that this measure is essential for the survival of our high street since it is so dependent on visitors from around London and beyond, many of whom come for a day out at the restaurants, bakeries, clothes, shops and so on.

Others have suggetsed that a high street ought to be more focussed on serving a locally resident population and that reducing the cost of parking will only serve to attract more traffic to the area. But is Green Lanes just too big to put its focus locally in the current climate of failing high streets?

What do you think? Is this campaign hitting the nail on the head, supporting the spirit of localism and helping our high street to thrive? Or is it missing the local dimension?

Tags for Forum Posts: high street parking, high streets

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I cycled past this photoshoot the other morning and wondered what it was all about. I'm the cyclist in the blue, caught on candid camera.

fame at last

What do you think?

The notion that 'visitors from around London and beyond... coming for a day out' will be attracted by the offer of half an hour of free parking sounds absurd. Providing free parking will probably just mean that some local people who would usually walk will get in the car instead. And once they are in the car and can't find a space they will probably just go to Sainsburys.

Is there any evidence to show how people arrive here and their relative value to local businesses? Without that It's impossible to judge whether local people or those driving from distance are more important to local businesses, and consequently how things should change to better serve those customers to the benefit of local businesses.

On Green Lanes itself or on the Ladder/Gardens roads?

I'd ban all parking on Green Lanes if I was in charge. It would make the buses much quicker and cycling safer.

(But I don't have a car)

Will 30mins really help people who have come for dinner? Or would it help the businesses's friends who already sit outside a number of shops with the engine constantly running.

On Green Lanes itself and in the headers of the Ladder and Gardens roads where there is already pay-parking.

Remember, one of the proposals for the forthcoming Harringay TfL funding will be to remove the southbound bus lane and have parking along that side of the road.

Seconded.

As I've said before, I'd be far more likely to go to Green Lanes if it wasn't so traffic-ridden. Imagine getting rid of most of the parking and replacing it with pavements and greenery, proper outside space for cafés, etc.

I think this is a really, really disappointing, short-sighted, narrow-minded campaign. And at the risk of getting this thread hijacked, it is far from what the Lib Dems' national manifesto suggested the party stood for:

"We will move to revenue-neutral road user pricing over the longer term to reduce congestion and city-centre pollution. We will reduce pollution from vehicle exhausts through tighter regulation. We will fully meet European air quality targets by 2012."

I completely agree with Grant and ElleCarumba - I'd ban all parking on Green Lanes and put in more pedestrian crossings. I've lost count of the amount of times people have stepped out in front of me, and seen people come out of shops get into their cars doing crazy 3 point turn manurers. 

And removing the bus lane from the south section of GL from St Annes to Sainsburys is a completely bonkers idea, I can only see it resulting in deadlock.

It's disappointing that the Lib Dems are supporting this. I can't see it as a positive move at all. Will just add to the already heavy traffic congestion and pollution. More people would use the buses if they were able to move more freely along Green Lanes which they can't due to the number of cars parking there. This is just going to add to the problem. And it doesn't make certainly doesn't make cycling appealing, quite the opposite. Thumbs down from me.

You're right. I imagine that's because there is passing trade too. The traders do report a notable downturn in trade since the increase in parking charges. They have little doubt that it impacts on their businesses.

Don't forget that when the CPZ was changed on the Ladder (and the Gardens???) the changes saw the demise of the free 2 hour (not 30 mins...) visitors parking zone on each road that would hold half a dozen cars and extended throughout the day for anyone visiting this area!

Reinstate them. It will benefit not only the traders and the people from out of town Rob mentions below but also those actually living in the area who might have a visitor from out of the area. We can then do away with parking on GL itself, which has to be a bonus.

I said this at the time and a few people complained they would not be able to find a spot in the road if this free parking space was not brought into the CPZ, but I have to say that in the 9 years of living here I have only had to park the car more than 100m from my house on a handful of occasions!!!

The cynic in me though seems to remember that GL is the most ticketed mile in the country though- something like 100,000 tickets a year or something like that??? Surely that has nothing to do with it?

Most ticketed mile in the country? High rate of ticketing due to parking meters?

Both untrue.

It isn't always wise to believe everything in the Sunday Times.

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