Forum Topic

Traffic Chaos on Castlebar Hill

Try and avoid Castlebar Hill as it is very congested.On Monday 16 May a new Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) was introduced in West Ealing radiating north, east and west of St Stephens Church. Roads south off Cleveland Road and Castlebar Hill are in the CPZ - but these two roads are not. Teachers at Notting Hill School, who normally park in some of these roads are now parking on Cleveland Road and Castlebar Hill. Cleveland Road is very wide but Castlebar Hill isn't. Cars, vans and buses are having great difficulty in getting up and down the hill and at times the traffic is backing up to the east and to the west. Entering and exiting St David's Care Home at the bottom of the hill is difficult and dangerous. Pedestrians have a long wait in trying to safely cross Castlebar Hill road.Castlebar Hill is part of the major (only?) route into and out of Ealing centre. It is now regularly congested where it wasn't before. Edgehill Road which was previously somewhat parked up during the day is mostly completely empty of parked cars. All of the houses on this road have off-street parking.Could anyone please explain how this arrangement is an improvement - in terms of parking, congestion or road safety - on the the pre-CPZ arrangement?

Eric Alan Leach ● 5438d9 Comments

I think I spotted the LBE transport boss a Mr S Iqbal trialling the council's green transport scheme along St Leonards Road in a white convertible Porche. I hoped to raise this problem with him. He escaped. I was on my bike. You see nowhere apart from this forum to raise these important issues.

Arthur Breens ● 5330d

The midday 297 fom the Broadway was delayed for over 20 minutes today stuck in jammed traffic.. This road is in need of a single yellow line on one side.

Graham Weeks ● 5332d

I was very surprised when a friend told me that her street near St Stephen's Church had been included in a CPZ - Zone HH.She lives 20 mins walk from Ealing Broadway Station and the 2 buses serving that area are hardly regular, if people are supposedly parking and bussing to the station.She thinks that when consulted last year, her neighbours were almost unanimously against being included in the zone but it was rolled out anyway.The oddest thing is now seeing the whole north-eastern stretch of St Stephen's Road totally empty of cars - yet no residences abutt the road, so why restrict parking?Does anyone know if the results of the consultation are publicly available?

Phil Kay ● 5415d

On Tuesday I had to drive deep into Harrow to complete a business deal. On the outward journey I was delayed by a traffic jam in Castlebar Road. No problems in Harrow.  On the return journey a traffic jam in Drayton Green Road. Both jams were probably caused by parked cars displaced from nearby/surrounding CPZs. We were sold CPZs on the basis that they would relieve congestion. Well apparently not so. In Ealing we have  experts  who design these zones and then walk away. That is irresponsible. The rest of us sink or swim on the basis of the quality of our outputs.S Iqbal please comment.

Arthur Breens ● 5416d

It is more than a tax on residents. The anti-car mindset may have found a way to raise revenue and to price motorists out of Ealing but it also prices out those who maybe cannot afford to live in the Queen of the Suburbs but provide sevices for those who do live here. Many of the people who work but do not live in our town cannot function without a vehicle.  These include teachers, health professionals, local officials, traders, their staff and many of their customers.  Where are these people going to park their vehicles when the whole of Ealing is a CPZ?  Stop and Shop is a great thing but residential streets with off street parking and great stretches of empty road in CPZ's will eventually preclude commuting workers and close those shops where customers can park.

Brian Davis ● 5437d

Probably more to do with personal failings than with mode of transportation.

Charles Campbell ● 5438d

Equally Ben people can also walk. But the car and car parking problem will not be solved any time soon with bikes. Bikes will not, in the near future, replace buses, delivery vans and trucks, ambulances, taxis, mini-cabs, service vehicles, and cars travelling medium to long distances.I think the link between traffic chaos and obesity is somewhat tenuous. But I do accept that obesity is a seriuos problem.

Eric Alan Leach ● 5438d

Would it not be an improvement if it gets people out of cars and instead use bicycles?Incidentally, I am told that the number of people admitted to Ealing Hopsital with obesity problems escalated by 60 per cent last year, and that childhood obesity in Ealing is higher than the national average.

Ben Owen ● 5438d

It helps to further CPZ creep which eventually will lead to a tax on all ealing residents.

Peter Chadburn ● 5438d