Parking consultation update

With Sutton having the fourth highest levels of car ownership in London and resident surveys identifying improvements in parking as the highest rated concern in the borough, the council is committed to taking a borough-wide approach to its Parking Strategy.

The strategy seeks to take a cross-borough view of parking options and future-proof Sutton’s parking availability to avoid a crisis in kerb space in the future.

Last year the council held a series of consultation and engagement events with residents in the phase 1 consultation area, which included St Helier, The Wrythe & Wandle Valley and Sutton Local areas, parts of Carshalton Central, Sutton South and Belmont and Walllington North.

Cllr Manuel Abellan, chair of Sutton Council’s Environment and Neighbourhood Committee, said as part of that engagement activity the council had received thousands of comments from local residents wanting to have their say on parking.

“We know residents are concerned by issues of traffic, commuter parking and air quality. We also recognise that there is not enough kerb space in some streets for the number of parked cars and that Sutton residents can find it difficult to park near their homes,” he said.

“We want to prioritise Sutton streets for Sutton residents. We asked residents to have their say on parking in their area and due to the large number of responses we’ve received so far, it’s taken a little longer than planned for officers to review all the feedback.

“But we are listening and it’s important to highlight that while we wait for residents' feedback to be collated, no final decisions have been made on any of the proposals. As soon as the recommendations and outcomes of the consultations are available we will publish them.”

The publication will be followed by a further series of engagement events where residents will have a final chance to hear about the revised proposals.

The initial consultation on parking in the next phase - the area of South Sutton, Cheam and Belmont, Carlshalton and Clockhouse - closed on March 3 and officers are reviewing the feedback to that consultation with a plan to publish next steps in due course.