Councillor Jo Blackman shares her concerns about the pressures on parking in Wanstead and the rationale behind the recent expansion of Wanstead’s permit parking zones
As well as being a great place to live and visit, Wanstead is also well placed for access to central London. Wanstead is the closest area in East London to central London without full coverage of resident-only parking controls, as Newham and Waltham Forest are now fully covered by such restrictions.
This means we have vehicles and commuters from outside London coming to park in our area to access central London as well as commercial vehicles from Newham and Waltham Forest. This makes it more challenging for residents and visitors to park and has resulted in growing demand for parking controls to protect resident parking. This has led to a gradual expansion of the permit zones where supported by residents via council consultations.
Most recently, this includes the extension of permit parking controls into Grove Park, The Avenue, Grosvenor Road, Stansted Road and Eastway. This was in response to concerns raised by residents about obstruction of driveways and the long-term presence of commercial vehicles. The one-hour restriction also meant residents were unable to park on their own street.
Redbridge’s parking permit costs are still some of the lowest in London. The first permit for residents is £37.50 and £16.50 for a book of 10 visitor permits – equivalent to £1.65 for a whole day. Our permit application system has recently been updated to ensure a smoother experience, and the feedback has been really positive. Government rules mean any revenue generated by parking schemes can only be spent on transport improvements. The bulk of our revenue goes to road safety schemes and the Freedom Pass and Zip Oyster schemes.
Whilst the controls help protect resident parking, the recent expansion has also created nearly 70 new spaces for visitor parking, including 19 visitor parking spaces (available through RingGo, with one hour of parking free) and 47 shared-use parking spaces available for local permit holders and also via RingGo. This creates more controlled and flexible use of the space, which was otherwise limited to just a one-hour restriction.
Management of parking and highways is often a contentious issue. It is difficult to please everyone as schemes which help one area invariably have impacts elsewhere. Residents have raised concerns about the displacement of parking from the roads with recently introduced controls to nearby roads, including on the Counties estate. Some of these roads are already heavily parked, which may limit the opportunities for additional parking anyway. However, we are happy to support requests for parking controls on these roads, and we’re always happy to hear how we can help manage parking across the ward.
Jo Blackman is a Wanstead resident and Labour councillor for Wanstead Village ward. Visit wnstd.com/blackman
