Greenwich Council has apologised after maps drawn up for its consultation into new controlled parking zones featured the wrong date for sign-off – leading to accusations that it had simply ignored a past survey about the issue.
Scores of maps will now need to be reissued to correct the mistake in the consultation, which is mostly taking place online.
The Sustainable Streets scheme aims to introduce CPZs to a wide swathe of the borough, from Lee Green in the west to Plumstead in the east, and including Woolwich, Shooters Hill, Charlton, part of Blackheath and Kidbrooke. The plans also include new street trees, bays for dockless hire bikes, spaces for hire cars, cycle hangars and pay-by-phone parking. Areas in existing CPZs which currently have free parking bays will be switched to paid-for parking.
Extra greenery, such as “rain gardens” to help stop flooding, are promised at a later date. The scheme is part of Greenwich’s policy of trying to reduce the number of car journeys – ultimately, it wants to have CPZs across all of the borough – and to respond to the hotter, wetter weather that climate change is bringing.
The plans have received a torrent of online criticism from residents around Plumstead and Shooters Hill, with two petitions launched and a protest planned outside the town hall before Wednesday night’s full council meeting. They say the restrictions are not needed.
Other residents, however, are welcoming the restrictions on parking, with two petitions being heard at the council meeting from people in Kidbrooke who want parking curbs in their streets because they now cannot find spaces.
Greenwich has insisted that its plans are informed by a survey that took place in February, in which 3,000 residents took part. But it emerged at the weekend that scores of maps produced as part of the scheme are dated June 2024 – eight months before the initial survey began.
Matt Hartley, the leader of the council’s Conservative opposition, who has already criticised the consultation for its complexity, said: “Any credibility that Greenwich Council has left when it claims this is a genuine consultation just went up in smoke. How can the listening phase that closed in February 2025 have informed highly-complex technical drawings that were drawn up and approved in June 2024?
“It is clear for all to see that Greenwich Labour councillors intend to push these controlled parking zones through, regardless of what local people think. Astonishingly, they have published the evidence that this is the case in their own consultation documents.”
However, the council has told The Greenwich Wire that the sign-off date on the maps was a mistake, and should read “June 2025”. New maps will be issued soon, it said.
A spokesperson said: “”We are aware that the maps online are dated June 2024. This is a typo and should read ‘June 2025’. We apologise for any confusion this may have caused and will publish revised maps soon.
“We do want to be clear that this is a genuine human error, and we’re grateful that residents are engaging with the process and picked up on the oversight.
“To clarify the timelines, the consultants who produced the maps were only appointed in January 2025, and preliminary work on the maps began during the listening and engagement stage. Throughout this period, we adjusted the maps from the consultants based on the feedback we got from the engagement questionnaires. The June date itself refers to when the final maps for this stage of consultation were signed off for publication.
“This is a detailed process and we want to find solutions that work for everyone. We continue to encourage residents to leave feedback on making our streets greener, safer, and more sustainable until midnight on Friday, August 22.”
Most CPZs in Greenwich are now charged on the vehicle’s emissions, with a “base price” of £100 per year. Owners of zero-emission vehicles pay £20 per year, the biggest polluters pay £300. Additional vehicles in a household carry a £100 surcharge each.
The scheme is expected to cost £680,000 to implement before bringing in income of £1 million a year by 2029, according to the council’s budget, which was passed in February. By law, income has to be ringfenced for transport-related projects, including contributing to the council’s share of the bill for the Freedom Pass.
The issue is likely to dominate much of Wednesday night’s council meeting, which will be the last one before October. As well as receiving petitions against the CPZs, it will hear from residents in Birdbrook Road and Kidbrooke Park Road who say they have had to deal with parking from commuters, Kidbrooke Village builders and people living in new “car-free” homes, and would like their streets to have have parking restrictions. They will get their wish if the council’s scheme goes ahead.
🗣️ The consultation is at sustainable-streets-rbg.commonplace.is
📩 Follow The Greenwich Wire on Bluesky, Facebook, LinkedIn or Threads. You can also sign up for WhatsApp alerts – or subscribe to our emails through the blue box above.
Comments are closed.