Auden Place parking row: Sir Keir Starmer backs Primrose Hill estate seeking legal advice over £80-a-year car park plan
Residents in Auden Place, Primrose Hill, who are considering legal action over their new parking charges. Picture: Oliver Telling - Credit: Archant
Sir Keir Starmer has backed neighbours on a Primrose Hill estate who are seeking legal advice after being told by their housing association they will each have to pay £80 a year to park.
Auden Place in Primrose Hill. Picture: Oliver Telling - Credit: Archant
Tenants in the 87 properties at Auden Place have been able to park outside their homes free of charge for more than 20 years. They managed their own parking scheme, renting out some spaces to raise money for the communal garden.
But in a letter delivered to tenants in September, OHG announced parking arrangements were to be handed over to the corporate company UK Car Park Management (CPM). Under the new scheme, an annual parking permit will cost £80.
Jim Mulligan, who has lived there for almost 30 years, said: “There was no consultation about this. We were just told this is going to happen.”
The housing association plans to introduce the new parking arrangements in January, although a meeting between residents and OHG to discuss them is planned later this year.
Auden Place in Primrose Hill. Picture: Oliver Telling - Credit: Archant
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Mariusz Stochaj, leader of the tenants’ association, added: “We are seeking legal advice.
“We are looking at challenging them on the basis of us having very successfully run the parking scheme, raising quite a lot of money [to go] back into the communal areas – over £120,000 in 10 years.”
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Holborn and St Pancras MP Sir Keir has sent a letter on behalf of the residents to OHG, asking it to halt the plan, and local councillors joined tenants in a meeting with the housing association on November 2 to discuss the new parking arrangements.
An OHG spokesperson said: “The historic car parking arrangement at Auden Place is no longer fit for purpose.”
They added: “If CPM is introduced at Auden Place, the monies will cover the administrative fees and will provide a number of benefits to our residents, such as a flexible 24-hour warden patrol, removal of abandoned vehicles across reported sites, litter picking when workload permits and many more.”
They declined to comment on whether money raised through the car park would continue to fund the residents’ communal garden.
