Tag Archive for: Parking Increase

Parking Charges Increase in January 2020

The cost of car parking in Merton Council’s car parks and on the streets in Wimbledon will be increasing on 14th January 2020.

 

Businesses will be aware that Love Wimbledon has been continuously lobbying to oppose these price increases by Merton Council. The reason for this increase is based on the need to improve air quality in the town centre.

Love Wimbledon is very supportive of initiatives that are likely to improve air quality and are working on a number of initiatives, such as recently planting 250 trees on Hartfield Road, as part of the The Woodland Trust’s ‘Free Trees for Schools and Communities’ programme. However, this hike in parking prices will not impact buses and through-traffic, which create significant emissions for the town.

We are lobbying GLA and TfL to assist with this, for example, by changing their policies to introduce a cleaner bus fleet, as we strongly believe that raising parking charges by such a high percentage will have a detrimental impact on people’s perceptions of visiting the town – pushing them out to retail parks and further incentivising online shopping.

Read more on Love Wimbledon’s parking campaign and our work to oppose this price increase, including our response to Merton Council’s Parking Consultation.

We would of course also encourage you to use public transport wherever possible to reduce emissions and congestion in the town.

Please note that whilst the Merton Council car parks and on-street parking are increasing, Centre Court and The Bridge car park prices will remain the same. For further details on these parking charge increases, visit the Merton Council website.

Proposal to Increase Parking Costs in Wimbledon

In December, Merton Council cabinet received a paper that will have a significant impact on the cost of parking in Wimbledon, within the council car parks and on pay and display bays on the street. The proposals correlate parking with air quality in the town in an effort to encourage a modal shift.

The proposals will see an increase to £4.50 per hour on the street, higher than Richmond, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Hammersmith. Whilst the car parks will increase to either £1.50 or £2 per hour with a 100% increase at The Broadway car park to £2 per hour. Season tickets will also be increased by 25% and business permits will be reviewed later this year.

We fully support the efforts to improve the air quality in Wimbledon, however we believe there are many other contributory factors that are far more significant and at a time of national decline in retail we question whether this is the right time to discourage visitors to the town. Over 60% of the traffic in Wimbledon is through traffic and the biggest polluters are the 10 bus routes that serve the town.  Transport for London have had significant success in Putney High Street, a 90% reduction in NOx emissions, by introducing a Low Emission Bus Zone.

There will be a public consultation for 21 days commencing in January and we have requested to be included within the formal list of consultees.  Helen, our Chief Executive had a meeting with Cllr Martin Whelton before Christmas to discuss these proposals and is also attending the Sustainable Communities Scrutiny Panel on Wednesday 9th January to voice our concerns.

We will notify you as soon as we know more detail to enable you to respond.

The full cabinet paper can be viewed here