|
|
 |
| |
Fortess Road traders Sally Celik, Aysec Celik, Stephen Fisher, Messelu Worku, with the petition |
Driving us out of business
Road traders say parking space shortage could force them to close
TRADERS in Kentish Town say their street is dying – and the council’s parking policies are administering the coup de grace.
Business owners in Fortess Road have collected hundreds of signatures for a petition protesting at new parking regulations that they say has doubled the impact of the recession.
Spaces have shrunk in every year for three years and a new pedestrian crossing has taken away around 10 of the few remaining spaces.
Confusing parking rules – there are a small number of pay-and-display bays but they only operate between 10am and 4pm – and a merciless bus lane camera that clocks parking infringements are also being blamed.
Sally Celik, manageress of the Fortess Cafe and Restaurant, said: “We work seven days a week and barely make enough money to keep going.
“This is not a high street, it is a small parade of shops with a lot of independent businesses and it is looking like a ghost town now – people will start avoiding it and that makes the problem worse. The council say they are helping small businesses. They are not helping us.”
A short walk along Fortess Road in the middle of a working day shows a dozen businesses with their shutters down.
Messelu Worku, who owns the Angocha bakery and grocery, said the pressure of business rates, the recession, and parking was driving shops to the wall.
“Even in the last week three businesses have gone,” she said. “It is a really worrying time. People like the goods here and want to shop, but they don’t want to come because of the parking. If it continues like this I’m going to have to think about going elsewhere.”
Stephen Fisher, who runs the Hornsey Trust charity shop, said he has seen people ticketed in the few moments it takes to drop off a charitable donation. “It is very, very bad, the worst it has been since I have been here,” he added. “The parking policy is a money-making effort – at the expense of businesses.”
Kentish Town ward councillor Ralph Scott, who is on the Lib Dem and Conservative cabinet running the Town Hall, defended the council’s record on parking but said he would look into Fortess Road as a priority.
Cllr Scott added: “Since we took over the council we’ve been trying to make parking easier for residents and businesses. In the year before we took over there were 20,000 people clamped in Camden – last year there were seven. But clearly there’s a long way to go on some issues.
“If they (Fortess Road traders) have lost 10 spaces that’s a heavy blow – and we ought to be getting the parking team to review that.” |
 |
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
