I'm writing in response to your Ealing Gazette Article regarding the
Southall CPZ scheme.

Once again I am surprised at the comments being made by both business
and residents with regards to the scheme. I see the situation as
follows.

Businesses that have been established in Southall through the boom of
the 80s and 90s have matured great wealth for their owners, who have
either moved out of Southall or have multiple properties within or
outside of Southall itself to increase that bottom line.

The town itself has contributed greatly to their wealth, and all dues
to these entrepreneurs for capitalizing on it. However, now most of
these business men are 'dividing' their business premises from one
shop-unit to multiple-shop-units of approximately 5 stands or more per
premise - which are then leased to new-businessmen/women who are also
trying to capitalize on the ethnic draw of the area.

It doesn't take a scientist to conclude the following from this. In
the past, one shop unit required approximately 1 vehicle to sustain
its stock replenishment, thus the business-premise had 1 car attached
to it. Now, the same premise has approximately 5 vehicles attached to
it, for the 5 individual businesses. Therefore we have increased the
car space requirement for this premise.

Multiply this increase throughout the Broadway area, and take into
account that these premises do not come with 'back office parking' or
'underground parking' and you realise that these traders need to use
the surrounding area to park their cars - this equates to them needing
one space per unit at least 1 hour before trading opens, to
approximately 1 hour post trading time - thus 8am to 7pm.

The same rule applies to modern households, albeit in less volumes.
Most modern households in the area will have more than 1 family car,
say approximately 2, therefore there is an obvious lack of space
outside these houses for the residents themselves to park in.

Compound this with the problem of the visiting shoppers. As we all
know, Southall is such a draw to outside shopping traffic, as well as
pass-through traffic (has anyone tried to drive through Southall at
the weekend recently!), then we have a situation where there are more
cars trying to park in the area, than the roads themselves can
sustain.

The law makes it very clear, that the roads do not belong to either
residents or traders, but to the general public.

However, the initiation of schemes such as CPZ administers some sort
of ownership. It's this administration that is causing the problems to
continue.

The first casualties of the CPZ are indeed, the outside
visitors/shoppers. Without an alternative car park that can host
sufficient volumes to park each shopper car, there is going to be an
incentive for them to try to shop in areas that will allow this car
parking – thus alleviating their painfully slow ‘drive by's where they
search for a reasonable space to use.

The second casualty is very clearly the resident. To witness a
substantial increase in trader vehicles around the area, where the
trader utilization of spaces means the residents returning home at
6/7pm are without a 'guaranteed space from CPZ rules' means that the
residents are worse off. Due to the trader utilization, they will not
be given a CPZ space within controlled hours, and as soon as traders
leave, there is a window for the nightlife visitors (the restaurant
clientele and cinema goers) to occupy these spaces without charge. One
really cannot imagine the frustration of paying for a CPZ if you are
left without a preferential space at the end of your days commute.

The final casualty is indeed the modern-trader. I use the term modern,
because its evident that the exodus of the 80s and 90s business names
is very apparent. The multitude of new Bazaar-like premises is
overwhelming, and its these rental-traders who will be occupying the
vacant commuter-spaces for the majority of the day.

Through this, we have ignored the following: increased numbers of
Hotel and Bed & Breakfast properties in the areas and mini-cab
operators who have a large contingent of cars requiring hot spacing.
These also increase the burden.

What emerges from this analysis is that there is no clear solution.
The council has to address many aspects of Southall's traffic problem.

- The absolute resolution of the bottleneck traffic that is caused
when vehicles enter Southall from all four routes (West & East on the
A4020, and Lady Margaret Rd and South Rd). The yellow box junction
cannot and will not help. There needs to be a red-route or widening of
the Broadway Road to two lanes each way to allow flow to increase
through the area. This increased flow will help the ingress/egress of
shoppers and passers through, thus making it less of a pain to visit
in the car.

- The increase in visitor/shopper car parking facilities. The sites
for these will have to be carefully considered. One cannot reasonably
locate a car park dead-in the middle of the Broadway, the increased
traffic to enter/leave the premise will cause additional delays to
everyone. It would be detrimental to everyone's cause to do that
without sufficient address of the other problems.

- The creation of a trading car park area, for traders to leave their
vans and cars during the day. Thus allowing residents to safely park
outside their homes, and provides a secure area for traders to leave
vehicles. There is such a space behind Woolworth's, ready to be
repurposed for this.

Thus, the Council should not just locate a new car park in the area
without taking into consideration the unlawful behavior of drivers in
the area. Lets not fool ourselves, there is a proliferation of illegal
parking, stopping, unloading and disobedience of road signs in the
area. Traffic in the area is horrendous, largely due to the
bottlenecking of dual carriageways into a single lane through-road
around the Broadway.

The Council should also not bow to trader pressure, as withholding
payment of fees is also an illegal practice that the traders should
not be seen as doing in this era.

There is more to the upkeep of Southall than a trading community.
Without the residential collective Southall will become a trading
ghost-town that exists only during trading hours, with no residential
communities or families, who will inevitably move out due to a lack of
visible benefits of staying there.

Trade will not leave Southall, it has always been and will remain a
draw to the ethnic population in Britain. However, the Southall
community can suffer, and it is not that difficult to see the family
and community spirit that has made it the town what it is, happily
move to residential areas that are more family friendly - leaving the
properties behind to be turned into multi-roomed rental units and
b&bs.

It is not, therefore, a clear case of trade suffering due to CPZ or
residential pressure that causes trouble to trader income. This is a
problem that will only be solved by a collection of initiatives that
need to be presented to all parties in a single vision - otherwise
everyone is just going to go around in circles arguing over nothing in
particular.

Regards,

M Singh.

Town planning skills withing London councils are becomming
increasingly poor. You are describing a rather bad case of traffic
flow management, which alas needs to be fixed by your Borough Council
very quickly before it gridlocks.

S.

(M Singh) wrote in message . com...
I'm writing in response to your Ealing Gazette Article regarding the
Southall CPZ scheme.

Once again I am surprised at the comments being made by both business
and residents with regards to the scheme. I see the situation as
follows.

Businesses that have been established in Southall through the boom of
the 80s and 90s have matured great wealth for their owners, who have
either moved out of Southall or have multiple properties within or
outside of Southall itself to increase that bottom line.

The town itself has contributed greatly to their wealth, and all dues
to these entrepreneurs for capitalizing on it. However, now most of
these business men are 'dividing' their business premises from one
shop-unit to multiple-shop-units of approximately 5 stands or more per
premise - which are then leased to new-businessmen/women who are also
trying to capitalize on the ethnic draw of the area.

It doesn't take a scientist to conclude the following from this. In
the past, one shop unit required approximately 1 vehicle to sustain
its stock replenishment, thus the business-premise had 1 car attached
to it. Now, the same premise has approximately 5 vehicles attached to
it, for the 5 individual businesses. Therefore we have increased the
car space requirement for this premise.

Multiply this increase throughout the Broadway area, and take into
account that these premises do not come with 'back office parking' or
'underground parking' and you realise that these traders need to use
the surrounding area to park their cars - this equates to them needing
one space per unit at least 1 hour before trading opens, to
approximately 1 hour post trading time - thus 8am to 7pm.

The same rule applies to modern households, albeit in less volumes.
Most modern households in the area will have more than 1 family car,
say approximately 2, therefore there is an obvious lack of space
outside these houses for the residents themselves to park in.

Compound this with the problem of the visiting shoppers. As we all
know, Southall is such a draw to outside shopping traffic, as well as
pass-through traffic (has anyone tried to drive through Southall at
the weekend recently!), then we have a situation where there are more
cars trying to park in the area, than the roads themselves can
sustain.

The law makes it very clear, that the roads do not belong to either
residents or traders, but to the general public.

However, the initiation of schemes such as CPZ administers some sort
of ownership. It's this administration that is causing the problems to
continue.

The first casualties of the CPZ are indeed, the outside
visitors/shoppers. Without an alternative car park that can host
sufficient volumes to park each shopper car, there is going to be an
incentive for them to try to shop in areas that will allow this car
parking ? thus alleviating their painfully slow ?drive by's where they
search for a reasonable space to use.

The second casualty is very clearly the resident. To witness a
substantial increase in trader vehicles around the area, where the
trader utilization of spaces means the residents returning home at
6/7pm are without a 'guaranteed space from CPZ rules' means that the
residents are worse off. Due to the trader utilization, they will not
be given a CPZ space within controlled hours, and as soon as traders
leave, there is a window for the nightlife visitors (the restaurant
clientele and cinema goers) to occupy these spaces without charge. One
really cannot imagine the frustration of paying for a CPZ if you are
left without a preferential space at the end of your days commute.

The final casualty is indeed the modern-trader. I use the term modern,
because its evident that the exodus of the 80s and 90s business names
is very apparent. The multitude of new Bazaar-like premises is
overwhelming, and its these rental-traders who will be occupying the
vacant commuter-spaces for the majority of the day.

Through this, we have ignored the following: increased numbers of
Hotel and Bed & Breakfast properties in the areas and mini-cab
operators who have a large contingent of cars requiring hot spacing.
These also increase the burden.

What emerges from this analysis is that there is no clear solution.
The council has to address many aspects of Southall's traffic problem.

- The absolute resolution of the bottleneck traffic that is caused
when vehicles enter Southall from all four routes (West & East on the
A4020, and Lady Margaret Rd and South Rd). The yellow box junction
cannot and will not help. There needs to be a red-route or widening of
the Broadway Road to two lanes each way to allow flow to increase
through the area. This increased flow will help the ingress/egress of
shoppers and passers through, thus making it less of a pain to visit
in the car.

- The increase in visitor/shopper car parking facilities. The sites
for these will have to be carefully considered. One cannot reasonably
locate a car park dead-in the middle of the Broadway, the increased
traffic to enter/leave the premise will cause additional delays to
everyone. It would be detrimental to everyone's cause to do that
without sufficient address of the other problems.

- The creation of a trading car park area, for traders to leave their
vans and cars during the day. Thus allowing residents to safely park
outside their homes, and provides a secure area for traders to leave
vehicles. There is such a space behind Woolworth's, ready to be
repurposed for this.

Thus, the Council should not just locate a new car park in the area
without taking into consideration the unlawful behavior of drivers in
the area. Lets not fool ourselves, there is a proliferation of illegal
parking, stopping, unloading and disobedience of road signs in the
area. Traffic in the area is horrendous, largely due to the
bottlenecking of dual carriageways into a single lane through-road
around the Broadway.

The Council should also not bow to trader pressure, as withholding
payment of fees is also an illegal practice that the traders should
not be seen as doing in this era.

There is more to the upkeep of Southall than a trading community.
Without the residential collective Southall will become a trading
ghost-town that exists only during trading hours, with no residential
communities or families, who will inevitably move out due to a lack of
visible benefits of staying there.

Trade will not leave Southall, it has always been and will remain a
draw to the ethnic population in Britain. However, the Southall
community can suffer, and it is not that difficult to see the family
and community spirit that has made it the town what it is, happily
move to residential areas that are more family friendly - leaving the
properties behind to be turned into multi-roomed rental units and
b&bs.

It is not, therefore, a clear case of trade suffering due to CPZ or
residential pressure that causes trouble to trader income. This is a
problem that will only be solved by a collection of initiatives that
need to be presented to all parties in a single vision - otherwise
everyone is just going to go around in circles arguing over nothing in
particular.

Regards,

M Singh.