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Tuesday, 26 May 2015 06:57

Inconsiderate Parking at London Irish Mini Festival, 26th April

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Residents living in the vicinity of the Hazelwood Training Centre will have noticed the thoughtless and inconsiderate parking by many of the visitors to the London Irish annual Mini Festival on 26th April. After receiving a number of complaints the Association raised the matter at a meeting with the Chairman of the Organising Committee.

Before discussing steps to be taken to minimise disruption next year, the Chairman was anxious to point out the measures they had taken to prevent parking congestion before this year's event and it is only fair to point these out:

  • informaton pack sent out to attendees 3 & 1 weeks before the event;
  • made clear that no parking was available at Hazelwood;
  • made clear that consideration for the club's neighbours is needed;
  • all visitors guided to use coaches where possible, or public transport;
  • all car users guided to use Kempton Park Race Course and shuttle bus service.

The L. Irish Amateur RFC investigated multiple options for car parking and rented 2 separate locations together with a shuttle bus transfer service at a combined cost of £1,800:

  • Kempton Park - approx 650 cars parked, 5 double-decker buses used for transfer;
  • St. Paul's School - approx 200 cars and 11 x 50 seat coaches parked;
  • 52 car park marshals volunteered for the day's event;
  • marshals used in shifts, primarily in the early morning peak period before the 10am start to the Festival and situated at 7 locations between Kempton and Croysdale Avenue;
  • marshals, despite not being legally empowered to prevent visitors from parking, appealed to the goodwill of visitors not to park in the local area but to go to Kempton and use Park and Ride service;
  • local police had been informed of the event in advance in order that dangerously parked or obstructing vehicles could be ticketed.

Despite these measures, 'residents parking only' signs at the top of roads parallel to Croysdale were destroyed beyond repair by vandals in the days before the Festival; some visitors chose to ignore pre-festival communications or ignored car parking marshals "as they are entitled to park as they pay road tax like anyone else".

It should be stressed that this is the first year that Hazelwood has hosted the Mini Festival and it's not surprising that there are lessons to be learnt for future years. One identified weakness is that visiting clubs did not adequately communicate to their members the information packs issued by London Irish. The Chairman has undertaken to be much more forceful in his communications to visiting clubs next year whilst accepting that this is unlikely to deter the awkward minority who have no regard for the inconvenience caused to local residents.

Next year's event is scheduled to take place on 24th April and the Chairman has agreed to communicate with LOSRA beforehand in order to alert residents through this website.

21 comments

  • Comment Link HP Wednesday, 03 June 2015 17:47 posted by HP

    I understand many may have comment to make on parking in general but the topic was ‘inconsiderate parking at London Irish mini festival’ so I struggle to understand the connection to ‘half witted residents who live near Sunbury station’ (Bon) and I agree with Paul about this comment, Benwell Meadow (Bob) , ‘close to a pub and secondary school’ and ‘Rivermead Island’ (Johnny Smith).

    ‘As long as you park legally, this is allowed. And stickering someones car is actually vandalism.’ (Bob) I somehow doubt this is correct Bob, but let’s assume that it is, I would be interested to hear the police reaction to being contacted about vandalism of this nature. My car is vandalised 2 or 3 times every month with various flyers when left in a car park.

    ‘The local residents & LOSRA have been spoiling for a fight to prove the planning decision was wrong, it was evident in the NIMBY comments at the planning stage & …’(Johnny Smith). You misunderstand, the majority of residents feel let down by the hollow promises from London Irish, one of which was that they had sufficient parking and our roads, some of which are not wide enough for two cars to pass, would not suffer. We are very aware that it is a public road, despite the pot holes making it look more like a private unmaintained road.

    ‘… in the hastily illegally erected 'residents parking' signage on Croysdale immediately after LI moved into their facility.’ (Johnny Smith) These were not put up by residents and I understand that London Irish erected these signs in an effort to keep some of their promises, albeit by ‘illegal’ means. Is it also ‘illegal’ when areas that do not have residents parking only around Twickenham stadium have residents parking only notices put out on match days and roads are closed to all barr the residents? They too are public roads.

    As has already been raised in other posts, deterring or preventing (by the relevant authority ticketing) illegally parked cars is the only sensible solution.

  • Comment Link Johnny Smith Tuesday, 02 June 2015 12:30 posted by Johnny Smith

    I live close to a pub and 100 yards from a secondary school, the school drop-off & pick-up makes the lane busier & some parents quite legally park on this public road. Similarly during busier periods(weekends & Summer) pub customers will park along the road. I have absolutely no truck with this as I live in an urban area & it never prevents me from accessing my driveway. You do not 'own' the space on a public road outside of your house if it is on a public road. The bottom end of Green Street is populated by pubs, food takeaways, a deli, liquor shop & convenience store. All have been here well before any resident moved here, its called a 'living' community because it breathes life into an area. The local residents & LOSRA have been spoiling for a fight to prove the planning decision was wrong, it was evident in the NIMBY comments at the planning stage & in the hastily illegally erected 'residents parking' signage on Croysdale immediately after LI moved into their facility.
    Will Losra be campaigning to cancel the fair due to double parking on the roads close to Rivermead Island? What about dipping into their funds to arrange parking at Kempton Park & a bus shuttle service like London Irish have done?

  • Comment Link Elleke Saturday, 30 May 2015 18:49 posted by Elleke

    I have no doubt the LI is aware of it,s feature on LOSRA's website / homepage and the subsequent concerns expressed by residents particularly given that some are indeed themselves residents in Lower Sunbury. Hopefully this could be an opportunity to add some re assuring comments by the LI thereby restoring our faith in LI's promise of being " good neighbours?"

  • Comment Link Helene Thursday, 28 May 2015 07:34 posted by Helene

    I’m not sure there is much I can add to the posts really. We are all intelligent people and although we don’t want our roads to be invaded by inconsiderate parkers and those choosing to ignore the polite request of “residents parking only” they all have as much right as we do, as long as the parking is legal. There is nothing we can do to change that as things stand.

    I think our first fight is to address the illegal parking and then we need to decide if we want to ask the council to yellow line our roads or have official residents only parking. Both of these will have a negative impact on us as the residents if we do not have off street parking or if we have visitors. I believe both options could have a short time period when the yellow lines or residents only parking applies, maybe just for a few hours on a Sunday. (A friend of mine lives near a station and their residents’ only parking restriction applies M-F, 9-10am and 3-4pm I believe. This stops the mass of commuters going to work parking in her road.)

    This option would mean there is no disruption to residents Monday to Saturday, if our restriction only applied say 9-11am on a Sunday, assuming this is possible. It wouldn’t eradicate all problems such as the mini festival which spans Saturday as well, but it would vastly reduce the problem. I think it’s about how far we want to go and what price we are prepared to pay. Maybe we can find out how much the council would charge us to have a parking permit for 2 or 3 hrs on a Sunday?

  • Comment Link GEM Wednesday, 27 May 2015 20:37 posted by GEM

    Peaceful Percy has said it all, much more eloquently than I could have written - everything he has said is right on the button. I email Nicola Browne almost every Monday morning after yet another miserable Sunday to be (eventually) given platitudes. Their arrogance is beyond belief. They got what they wanted and to h... With trying to be a good neighbour. The Project Manager some months ago told me they are going to put Sunbury on the map with holding the world series training - I was almost incandescent - he knew nothing about Sunbury, our history or what an amazing community we have. I did mentionThe Doomsday Book, the Yew Tree inthe churchyard mentioned in Charles Dicken's tale and the Hugeonot connection - I could have gone on, but some fell on stony ground.

  • Comment Link Peaceful Percy Wednesday, 27 May 2015 17:50 posted by Peaceful Percy

    I don't think anyone can argue the fact of the law. If you have valid in date insurance and tax on your car you can park in Croysdale, Fairlawns, Parkwood etc (CFP for short) and I speak as a resident of one of those roads.

    The reason the residents, including myself are upset, is twofold.
    (1) LI held meetings trying to persuade us all that having the rugby club in Croysdale was a wonderful thing for us all and they would be 'good neighbours'. In my book good neighbours do not leave external lights on all through the night. They do not assure us there will be sufficient parking when there clearly is not. They do not say that CFP will not be affected by their traffic, their noise and their light pollution when this is blatantly untrue. I for one feel very mislead by the LI promises that were made.

    We used to wake up to the bells at St Mary's if we had a lie-in on a Sunday morning...’in season’ we now wake up to the sound of traffic up and down the LI access road.

    (2) LI visitors are quite frequently on the borders of legality in my opinion in the places they park in CFP. I appreciate that LI can’t be held responsible for the inconsiderateness of their supporters but it’s the CFP residents that are suffering – not LI.

    How much overhanging someone’s driveway is considered illegal .... only when it is 100% blocked? Without a doubt the parking on corners and right at road junctions is illegal…so why is this not being dealt with by the authorities? Why have no tickets been issued?

    The LOSRA article is, as all LOSRA articles, well reported and accurate….EXCEPT that it is far from a once-a-year issue.

    Yes, the Mini-Fesitival caused bigger issues for longer than usual, but every Sunday in the rugby season there has been inconsiderate and excessive parking meaning residents dare not go out on a Sunday morning as there may be no where to park on their return … not so funny if you have all the supermarket shopping to carry. Elderly family members who cannot walk far can’t come over for a Sunday visit unless we ‘reserve’ them space with our own cars in the road and then move our vehicles half a mile away when our visitors arrive.

    I dread to think what will happen when the training for Fuji and Wales starts in a few months for the pending Rugby World Cup….

  • Comment Link bob Wednesday, 27 May 2015 10:59 posted by bob

    the roads on Benwell meadow estate are as narrow as any around here. If anyone blocks the road then of course this is wrong.

    But past experience shows you get a sanctimonious "this is a private road" sticker or leaflet just by having the gall to park there anywhere.

    You are legally allowed to park legally there. As long as you park legally, this is allowed. And stickering someones car is actually vandalism.

    See also the "police" leaflets left on cars by residents down Green Street opposite school walk - highly misleading

    I think residents should leave illegal parking to the authorities or campaign them to double yellow - not act as self important traffic enforcers just because they are parked outside their big house (most of whom have ample off street parking of course..)

    E Carling - I 100% agree LI should have provided more onsite parking facilities when they relocated there

  • Comment Link Elleke Carling Tuesday, 26 May 2015 18:15 posted by Elleke Carling

    I should make it clear that my comment was in response to Bon's comment........

  • Comment Link Elleke Carling Tuesday, 26 May 2015 18:10 posted by Elleke Carling

    I think the point is completely missed which is that a big club such as the LI has taken it upon themselves to rely on Hazelwood's surrounding streets/residents parking facilities rather then taking responsibility to provide sufficient facilities of their own. I would be delighted if this was only once a year but this has been the case on numerous occasions. Although I fully acknowledge and appreciate the resources they put in place during particular busy events it is clear they have proven in effective and do not address their own significant lack of parking facilities even on their "normal" training days when the road leading to the LI from Green str. is a complete congested car park as well as the surrounding roads.

  • Comment Link Paul Thompson (Benwell resident) Tuesday, 26 May 2015 15:11 posted by Paul Thompson (Benwell resident)

    I think the comment by Bon about residents who live 'near Sunbury station' is insulting and should be withdrawn. The reason residents on the Benwell Meadow estate get hot under the collar is that the roads are quite narrow and if two cars park (nearly) opposite one another, or a car parks opposite a drive, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to get through/out onto the road. Furthermore, adequate car parking is available at the station, but commuters choose not to use it.