Grove Park CPZ Row Continues
Councillor Ed Mayne fails to turn up to discuss issue
Chiswick councillors criticised Councillor Ed Mayne for failing to keep a promise to attend a meeting to discuss controlled parking last night (July 11).
Councillor Robert Oulds, chairman of the Chiswick Area Committee said he had received a message to say Cllr. Mayne, the Hounslow Council cabinet member with responsibility for parking, had been unable to come “due to traffic problems”.
Cllr. Ed Mayne
Cllr. Mayne later issued an apology. He does not own a car and was getting a lift to Chiswick after attending a meeting at the Civic Centre in Hounslow. He got stuck in traffic resulting from the M4 closure around Busch Corner and says he had to abandon his attempt to get to Chiswick in order to keep to other commitments across the borough.
He added, "I sent my apologies and asked the Assistant Director, who was there and was able to answer enquiries on my behalf, to communicate to the Chair that I would be able to attend the next meeting if necessary.
"I apologise again for not being able to attend, although these were circumstances beyond my control'.
A proposal by Cllr Mayne to initiate a consultation on controlled parking in Park Road and Staveley Road had been criticised by local councillors who said CPZ had already been rejected by the majority of residents in Grove Park.
The matter arose out of a previous decision to allow Chiswick House Gardens to start charging for its car-park. In a report, Cllr Mayne said he was “neutral” on the issue, although he had once lived in Park Road, but he was worried that traffic could be displaced from the car-park onto surrounding roads and he felt local residents needed a consultation on the matter of introducing a CPZ for the roads bordering the park entrance.
Residents in favour of introducing a CPZ and those opposed to it also spoke on the matter and the debate became heated at times. A petition of 34 signatures in favour of introducing controlled parking in Park Road was also presented to councillors.
Councillor Sam Hearn said he was “annoyed” with Cllr Mayne and felt he had cleverly manipulated the situation. Councillor Adrian Lee said a consultation would be a waste of time and money since people’s views had not changed on the matter.
The meeting heard the cost of a consultation would be £500 and it was estimated that the loss of monies due to delayed implementation of the Chiswick House car-park charging scheme could be perhaps in the region of £10,000 or more.
Councillor Robert Oulds said it was unprecedented that a CPZ would be decided at cabinet level instead of by local councillors. While he had taken legal advice which showed that cabinet had the legal power to do so, in practice such decisions were habitually taken by the Area Committee.
Councillors unanimously voted in favour of asking Councillor Mayne not to proceed with the consultation but to leave it in the hands of the Chiswick Area Committee.
July 12, 2012