Questions over parking zone questionnaire

Questions have been raised about the public consultation that Barnet Council used to justify the implementation of a new controlled parking zone (CPZ) across a large section of East Finchley after it emerged that it was conducted by the same company that is paid to run all of Barnet’s parking services.

Separately, residents and local business people who attended a public meeting on the CPZ last month were surprised to learn that the council approved the Monday to Friday 11am-3pm zone in the northern half of N2 despite 71% of respondents saying they opposed it.
The questions come as Cllr Alan Schneiderman, cabinet member responsible for parking, told the same meeting that there would be a second public consultation should the council decide to revive the CPZ plans it halted in February following a flood of complaints. Full meeting report on page 4.

First questionnaire

It was in November 2021 that Barnet Council sent out its first questionnaire asking 2,700 homes and businesses residents whether they would support the introduction of parking restrictions in the large area bounded by the North Circular, East End Road and Creighton Avenue/Church Lane.

The Archer has learned that this consultation exercise was conducted by a company called Marston Holdings, who are contracted to provide the NSL parking enforcement service for the whole of Barnet, including the three CPZs already in place in East Finchley. Marston Holdings administers the parking control system and employs the traffic wardens we see on our streets.
We asked Barnet Council whether, in the light of this, the public consultation could be seen as impartial. A spokesperson told us: “All decisions on CPZs are made by the council. The council is satisfied that the consultation methodology was robust and objective, utilising a leading UK online surveying tool to analyse the responses.”
Council calculations
The council confirmed that it had decided a slim majority of 51% of people could potentially benefit from the CPZ by adding together the 22% who positively supported it in the questionnaire with another 29% who reported some parking issues in their road, even though those two groups could have overlapped. When we asked why they approved the new East Finchley CPZ when 71% of respondents to the questionnaire explicitly opposed it, the council spokesperson said: “Consultations are an extremely important part of the CPZ process. The type of parking issues raised and the nature of the comments received are also considered to determine which method of control would be most appropriate to help alleviate and address the issues and concerns raised.”