Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Around The Ward With The Council

Yesterday morning, Eric and I spoke to senior Council officers about issues around Carshalton in our annual ward visit. This is an opportunity to catch up on concerns that have not been picked up in the normal way or are still in progress.

As we met in Grazie Mille on the High Street, we spent a good amount of time looking at how businesses are being affected in the village centre. Cars were illegally parking in loading bays when there were spaces available in the short-term bays because of a lack of understanding of the difference. The stores on the High Street receive their deliveries on the whole early in the morning, so the loading bays are not required for the majority of the day. Why not have them as mixed use so those cars can park legally and drop into the baker, the supermarket and the newsagent or any of the shops on the High Street that tend to be the type that rely on quick turnover. Similarly parking spaces in the Square are priced as to penalise 'stop and shop' residents and benefit all-day commuters.

The downpour highlighted this blocked drain in Seymour Road. The proximity of the tree suggests that this might be a big job to tackle with the roots being, well, at the root of the problem.

I'll summarise the updates of work in progress in a future post.