Firstly, and most importantly, if you find this page interesting, please tell your friends. Send an email to each friend you think will be interested in this information, include the web address for this page, which is "http://www.cpz.org.uk/questions_and_answers.shtml"
or print the page and show them.
Q: What is the purpose of a CPZ?
This depends on who you ask. If you ask NCP, the purpose is to make a profit. If you ask the London Mayor, the purpose is to reduce car use [Note 1]. If you look at the consultation document, the purpose is to help residents.
Q: Does a CPZ guarantee a parking space?
No
Q: If I am not able to park, can I get a refund for my permit?
No
Q: What should I do if there is no space in my parking zone?
If you are surrounded by other parking zones, you will need to wait for a space to become free in your zone, or if other people are also waiting, take your car to a municipal car park to avoid a flash point. If you live close to an uncontrolled zone, you can park your car there, but by doing that, you may be fuelling the spread of CPZs.
Q: The consultation document says CPZs help alleviate parking problems. Is this so?
CPZs reduce the total amount of parking available. If a road is laid out with yellow lines and parking bays, there are fewer opportunities to park legally. The total amount of parking space is reduced. Visitors, carpet layers, plumbers, engineers, builders etc will need permits to visit, you must supply these, or they risk being ticketed, clamped, towed away. Each permit has to be purchased and numbers are limited, and you will still have the problems you had before.
Q: Will a CPZ give me a reserved parking space?
A CPZ does not give you a reserved space. Anyone with a permit to park in your zone can park in the bay closest to your house.
Q: Will workmen and other services be affected?
Yes. You will need to purchase and supply visitor parking permits.
Q: Does a parking permit entitle me to park in my road?
A parking permit gives you no more entitlement to park in your road than a road without permits.
Q: If I have a parking permit for my area, can I park in other areas?
No, you can't. A parking permit will only be valid in your street or as far as your zone extends. For example, if you live in Rushey Green East (Zone L), your residents parking permit would not be valid close to Hither Green station or Catford stations.
Q: Can I transfer the permit to another car?
No, you can't. Permits are not transferrable. They have the car registration number printed on them. If the numbers don't match, you will get parking fines.
Q: If I change my vehicle, Will I need to re-apply for a permit?
Yes. If you change your vehicle, you will need to re-apply for a permit. You will need to use visitor permits until the new permit comes through.
Q: Are the permits affordable, or are they likely to remain affordable?
For as long as the council are trying to encourage residents to accept CPZs in the borough, there is a strong incentive for the borough to keep CPZs affordable. Boroughs such as Richmond and Camden are already covered by CPZs. Their charges are £100 and £90 respectively per year for a permit. In Lewisham, businesses are charged £300 per year per permit. Resident permits are currently £30 per year in Lewisham, but if the council manage to cover the borough with CPZs, they will no longer have to sell the idea of permits to residents, then the council can use the argument that the price must rise to discourage car ownership and vacate oversubscribed parking bays.
Q: Dont these CPZs overall make life difficult for residents in the borough?
If you have enjoyed taking your family to the local railway station by car, visiting local shops using your car, driving to your friends, or receiving friends who have come to see you by car, then CPZs make life harder for residents. CPZs spread by setting one group of residents off against another. A form of divide and conquer.
Q: Who approves this type of divide and conquer strategy?
This strategy may not be an official strategy, and the mayor may not be aware of the strategy when he puts his name to these measures. If you have seen this strategy codified, please let me know.
NOTE 1 Please see Lewisham Council Parking Consultation key decision Mayor and Cabinet 7th September 2005, part 1: Paragraph 4.3: "The mayor of London's transport strategy (2001) provides a framework for traffic management and parking controls throughout greater london. This guidance gives high priority to parking control initiatives that encourage a shift from the use of the car for personal travel to public transport, walking or cycling." note: It is therefore clear that controlled parking is officially considered a way of reducing parking opportunities and discourage residents from owning and using cars. However, the council sell parking zones to residents as a cure for parking problems! Many would consider this extremely misleading. If the consultation was honest, I think it should say something like "We plan to introduce parking controls in a stepwise fashion across Lewisham to stop you and other residents owning and using cars, and to stop people visiting you in a car. Are you in favour of controlled parking in your street?"
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