Members of horticultural society fined when attending recent meeting
Council enforcing car boot sale parking restrictions
Members of the Chiswick Horticultural and Allotments Society (CHAS) have reacted with dismay after they received fines last Sunday (7 February) for parking on Staveley Road.
A restriction on parking at the location had originally been put in place from 5.30am to 1pm on the first Sunday of each month to limit the congestion caused by the Chiswick School car boot sale but this has not been operating since last February.
The society, which is a registered charity, opens its trading hut on Staveley Road to allow members to exchange produce on Sunday mornings from 10am – 12.30pm but, prior to the pandemic, did not operate on the first Sunday of the month.
With the car boot sale not happening, the society has started opening every Sunday but the council has now without warning, started enforcing the parking restriction.
Members had assumed that as the traffic restrictions relating to Staveley Road had been suspended during school closures that restrictions which apply to activities on the school premises should similarly be suspended.
Jill Morris, the Secretary of the society said in her appeal against the fine to Hounslow Council, “We are attempting to provide a worthwhile service to our Members during lockdown by supplying agricultural items such as composts/seeds/ seed potatoes. The fact that you issued me with a ticket meant that allotment holders felt too concerned to park on Sunday thus restricting their access to their allotments and restricted their ability to shop. You are not assisting us for a reason I cannot fathom.”
We have asked Hounslow Council for comment.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
February 14, 2021