Greenwich Council is proposing to end free parking near Falconwood Station. Despite there being no houses on these sections of road, the Labour-run Council is planning on restricting parking on the Rochester Way and Welling Way around Falconwood Station.
A consultation has been announced but does not appear to be on the Council’s website, meaning the only chance of seeing was in one issue of the inconsistently delivered ‘Greenwich Info’ or if you happened to walk past one of the notices. To respond to the consultation, individuals should email parking-design@royalgreenwich.gov.uk prior to 24th August 2022 quoting the reference Rochester Way & Welling Way 22-08.
Impact on surrounding areas
Although no residents live on the sections of the Rochester Way and Welling Way where parking restrictions are being introduced, there is no doubt that the displaced parking from anyone wishing to use Falconwood Station will have an impact on residential roads. Residents saw this after the Council chose to introduce charges on non-residential sections of Glenlea Road near Eltham Station causing serious parking issues on surrounding roads where parking was still free. In the case of Eltham Park Gardens, the initial commitment to review the impact of the Glenlea Road charges has meant six years of inconsistent and unpopular proposals to introduce a Controlled Parking Zone which has still not happened.
Although there are many less commuters since the pandemic, it is reasonable to assume these changes will push cars into Crookston and Dairsie Roads in addition to the sections of Eltham Park like Berryhill where walking to either Falconwood or Eltham Stations remains an option.
As Councillors, Charlie Davis and I campaigned repeatedly to have the parking charges on non-residential sections of Glenlea Road removed on the basis these sections of road are now basically unused while residents in nearby roads suffer from increased parking from anyone wishing to use Eltham Station. We did succeed in getting free parking re-introduced on Saturdays, but a promised review of the parking restrictions has never materialised – a pattern which is likely to be repeated for residents around Falconwood Station.
The area now has Labour Councillors who may have already contacted you about this but if you have concerns you should contact them to ensure they are aware of your views.
Supporting our stations
Post-covid it is known the number of journeys taken by train have dropped sharply to around 57% of the pre-pandemic levels and some train companies have retained reduced timetables so it seems vital to help people use our local train stations if we want to retain services in the medium term and the stations themselves in the long-term. This point may seem fanciful, but we have seen stations closed in the past (Eltham Park and Eltham Well Hall were amalgamated in 1985 to form Eltham Station) but the lockdowns have clearly changed working patterns so reducing the number of people using Falconwood Station seems unwise and unnecessary at this time. In fact, we really should be removing restrictions on the non-residential section of Glenlea Road to encourage people back into Eltham Station again.
What are the Council proposing?
As none of these documents are online and there isn’t a map on the notices it is hard to reproduce the full details of the plans, but they seem to amount to:
- Double yellow lines on sections of Rochester Way and Welling Way
- Maximum 2 hour waiting times from 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Saturday on other sections of the Rochester Way
- Pay and Display Parking on sections of both the Rochester Way and Welling Way from 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Saturday at rates of £2 or £4 per day. (£4 per day is the same as the amount charged of Glenlea Road which has effectively emptied the road of parking so it will be interesting to see if there is a difference in parking levels between the two zones if these plans go ahead).
The full notice is below and I note that there should be maps attached but these seem not to be available. Without the maps you would need a tape measure to figure out what is being proposed which seems ridiculous.
Why are the Council doing this?
I feel the reasons for these proposals are not clear – Charlie can’t find any sort of public decision about the consultation on the Council’s website (although it is not a user friendly system). We have not seen any statement explaining the reasons for limiting parking on roads surrounded by woods from Eltham’s Labour Councillors or MP. The best guess I can offer is that this proposal is a hangover from the now rejected plans for 70 flats without parking Shepherds Leas where the Council suggested that future residents would be able to park on the Rochester Way. In 20 years as a Councillors, I do not recall receiving any requests to limit parking along this stretch of road.
These proposals will clearly have an impact on both commuters and local residents so one assume there are clear reasons for their introduction which our Labour Councillors should be able to supply.
Update 16th August 2022
Following an email to the Council the plans for the Controlled Parking Zone can be found below:
Given there are no houses on these sections of road, it is still remarkably hard to follow these maps, not least as they are labelled with Oxleas Woods where I think they mean Falconwood Field.
Letting residents know
I thought we should let you know that Charlie is in the process of making sure residents are aware of these proposals and the letters below are being delivered around the area.
Improvements to public transport in the area need to be made. Falconeood Station has no parking, no step free access. The bus routes are awful. I live on one of the roads it will affect. If they do this they will need to introduce parking restrictions on said roads so those who live there and their visitors can continue to park and so the road isn’t full of commutors rushing about to find a space when there is a school and lots of children in the area.
This is certainly what happened in Eltham Park Gardens when the parking restrictions were introduced on the non-residential part of Glenlea Road (near to Eltham Station). I really don’t understand why they are doing this as the impact seems to be only to make things worse for existing residents, commuters and even walkers hoping to visit the woods.
Doesn’t it make sense to deter commuter parking by Kent residents? Is the answer to have parking restrictions before 10am Mon-Fri, thus allowing parking during the day by visitors to Oxleas Woods?
It is fanciful to suggest that Falconwood Station may be at risk if parking restrictions are introduced. Falconwood Station should be for Falconwood residents, most of whom should be able to walk to it from home. The closure of Eltham Park Station was the result of Well Hall being rebuilt some distance further east to accommodate the motorway, thus making the two stations unfeasibly close together.
I am afraid I don’t agree with this but appreciate the engagement in a conversation.
For me stopping commuters parking where there are no residents is just making other people’s lives harder for no reason. In addition, it will either mean more commuter parking on local roads (which we have seen happen with similar changes elsewhere) or presumably more driving from commuters who will still have to go to work.
In terms of train services, my instinct is that, post-covid, a bit re-set is coming. Clearly a lot less people are using trains (see figures in article) and I would expect this to lead to a re-evaluation of which stations/lines are most used. We know this line has regularly been targeted for cuts to services and changes to destinations already so thinking ahead keeping more people using Falconwood at no disruption to local residents seems sensible to me. Anyway, this is just my chain of thought on this bit, but I think it makes sense.
Thanks again for the comment.