4 February (Part 2) - It’s all about the money
There not a lot of doubt that some people park in the silliest of places and sometimes
one passes by a car with a Penalty Charge Notice attached to the windscreen and
think, you really were asking for that.
My own pet hate is people who park on corners. It can force traffic to the wrong
side of the road and it is contrary to the Highway Code. It ought to warrant a
penalty of some sort but the police are not interested and it falls outside the
scope of Council parking regulations. I imagine that if Bexley painted double
yellows on every corner the problem would go away but if the problem goes away
there is no money to be made from it so it is never going to happen. It’s far
more profitable to introduce new restrictions on roads that look like good parking places.
To this end Graham Ward, Bexley’s Deputy Director of Infrastructure and a man who must have
upset some of his staff because one described him to me as "obnoxious" recently,
is going to extend a whole set of yellow lines to help meet the Council’s cash shortfall.
New Double yellows will come to Collindale Avenue and Brantwood Avenue, Erith.
Westwood Lane, Cambridge Road, Yew Tree Close, Wickham Street, Lime Grove and
Fairwater Avenue Welling.
Longlands Park Crescent and Stirling Close, Sidcup.
Glimpsing Green, Halt Robin Lane, Picardy Road and Lower Park Avenue, Belvedere.
Charter Drive and Elwood Drive Bexley.
Sawbridge Road, Wenvoe Avenue, St. Audrey
Avenue and Francis Avenue, Bexleyheath.
Existing double yellows will be extended in Lion Road, Bexleyheath; Falconwood
Avenue, Welling and Coleman Road, Belvedere.
Single yellow lines will be changed to double yellows at the junction of Manor
Road and Station Road in Sidcup.
Some will be necessary, many won’t be. Every three months Graham Ward slips in a
new tranche of parking restrictions. It is mainly budget driven.