A campaigner against the proposed controlled parking zone (CPZ) in Muswell Hill south is hoping initial results will echo those recently announced in Alexandra Palace west.
Muswell Hill south and Alexandra Palace west are joined by Muswell Hill west as three sites in the area where Haringey Council is planning to introduce new CPZs.
Of the three, Alexandra Palace west is the only one to have returned initial results, which indicated overwhelming opposition to the scheme.
Richard Sitek, a 63-year-old yacht captain living in Muswell Hill, is part of a multi-ward group called the No CPZ campaign hoping to prevent the council’s plans going ahead.
While it currently only consists of Muswell Hill south, Alexandra Palace west and Hornsey north, Richard is hopeful that others will join.
He said: “During the campaign we were acting separately in every area, but we’ve found each other and started to coordinate, so right now we’ve created a common front of at least these three areas. Hopefully others will join us further and extend this thing.”
The core issue, according to Richard, is that he does not believe CPZs resolve the problems of traffic and pollution, but instead contribute to “inconvenience, stress”.
He argues that rather than result in cleaner air or less vehicles, CPZs instead limit the spaces available for drivers, forcing them to circulate more than they would ordinarily, and so pushing their emissions higher.
Though Richard is cautious about getting too optimistic about the Alexandra Palace west results, he is hopeful it will “put pressure” on the councillors to decide against moving ahead with the plans.
“I guess most of the roads in Muswell Hill will be in the same situation", he said, “because they are roads that are close to the high street, and they have some problems with people parking there and going shopping.”
Cllr Seema Chandwani, Haringey Council’s cabinet member for customer service, welfare and the public realm, said that the council’s policy is that it seeks majority support from residents, something they should “take confidence” from.
She added: “Through this process, we have been able to illustrate what this proposed CPZ could look like and given all residents in the area a say on whether they wish to have these measures or not.
“We are still going through the responses to this consultation, which may well require deeper analysis overall.”
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