I've lived in ED for 5 years and own a car which my wife uses to commute to work in and I take public transport. I have a few basic problems with the proposed CPZ: 1. Disproportionate response: Southwark attempts to justify this enormous consultation and potential infrastructure investment on having received 98 complaints since 2015. In 2011 the census indicates population of SE22 being just over 21,000 residents, surely more now with flats and development. If we assume that 75% of the 21,000 residents don't drive or own a car at all and that the 98 complaints received in the last 4/5 years at Southwark came from car owners alone we could assume 5,250 car owners in SE22 (approx ballpark for sake of debate). This equates to complaints being made by 1.8% of car owners in the area and I think that's probably generous.... issues and solutions have to be proportionate and implementing a huge multizone CPZ in the area as proposed strikes me as totally disproportionate which leads me to point 2... 2. Local government taxation: With the above in mind surely we have to question the motive for such a proposed solution and as pointed out by many here it's simply taxing those in the area who own cars which would generate significant revenue per year based on figures above before you include pay parking, fines and guest permit purchase revenues. Those who have lived in CPZ parts of London know that while it might be ?125 per car per year to begin with you can expect that to increase every year ongoing along with the cost of pay-parking and permits. Now I know the Southwark wants to promote cleaner streets and less congestion which surely we are all in favour of but there are other ways to do so first such as more cycle lanes, pedestrianised areas and local planning which feels like a much better use of government time and resources. I feel like Southwark are leading us to thinking that this is a much bigger issue than it really is and that it will find strong appeal to those among us who are directly affected by parking issues. While I do feel sorry for those who struggle to park near their homes, my wife included, we all experience imperfect conditions for parking in the area but you've got ask yourself, would you be voting for this CPZ to solve your own personal parking problem or is this right thing to do for our wider community reliant on cars in our area??
