Thanks for this, Nancy; it's very interesting. Clearly, no one wants to 'kill' Churchfield Road; most of us use and support many of the excellent shops and businesses there. However, the temporary parking bays seem to be working quite well - if I am out and about in the car and want to pop into one of the shops on the way home I can almost always find a space. It's worth mentioning, too, that once the high density housing is finished local businesses will benefit from an influx of hundreds of new residents, all in walking reach! Things have changed though and as we all know will change considerably more once the Oaks development is underway and the 200+ parking spaces now available will be no longer. Furthermore, some businesses are easier to be enthusiastic about than others: at our end of Churchfield Road, for example, there are several estate agents all of whom, as a previous poster mentions, have fleets of cars which they park up in our streets daily adding to the problems we are encountering. Because the Oaks is presently not open for business and the car parks for the time being still there, we are experiencing the lull before the storm. Once things are under way, however, I think priority must be given to (permit-paying) residents. If we are not able as often is the case even now to park anywhere near our homes, then I'm sorry, supporting local businesses has to be a secondary consideration and frankly not really our responsibility.
Jo Thompson ● 4177d