A Resident's Questions about Car Parking for the new Flats
behind the Town Hall
Why are there only six parking spaces allocated to the 19 “Affordable Housing” properties at the rear of Southgate Town Hall? As a resident also living in an “Affordable Housing” development, I know that everyone owns at least one vehicle. So it is inevitable, there will be more cars than parking spaces for properties at the rear of STH.
15 spaces which are council owned are "offered" these residents after the hours of 9:30am to 6pm, when they are not used for the public using either the library or the proposed doctor’s surgery. But where are these cars meant to go between the hours of 9:30am and 6pm?
Non-residents are strictly forbidden to use the bays in Davey Close or in Shapland Way as they will be trespassing on private land.
The only available parking on Shapland Way is either near the Library or near the junction of Davey Close. There are approximately 5 street parking spaces which are usually taken up by local residents.
Despite all the parking measures that will be in place in response to the Southgate Town Hall development, it is likely that people will ignore the warning signs and park illegally in bays which belong to local residents. The general consensus from residents is no one can fathom where the overspill will be absorbed.
Despite contacting the local Palmers Green councillors about these concerns over a week ago, all have failed to respond. Their silence speaks volumes.
According to residents living in streets close to Southgate Town Hall, the planned construction of a new block of flats behind the former municipal building, which was approved by Enfield's Planning Committee this spring, does not provide for anything remotely like the amount of car parking space which the new flats will require. However, they complain that protests to local councillors about this have been ignored (see the inset document outlining their concerns).
The new block (see the drawing and artist's impression below) will comprise 18 "affordable" flats - six one-bed, nine two-bed and three three-bed. However, only six parking spaces within the Town Hall/Library complex will be allocated to these new flats. In contrast, there will be a parking space allocated to each of the new flats (not classified as "affordable") that will be created within the former Town Hall building.
Though some additional Council-owned car parking will be available on site outside of working hours, the residents point out that there will inevitably be immense pressure on already stretched street parking space in the vicinity.
