Kingston Council has announced the plans for the 30 minute free parking trial.  There will be 2 versions of the trial – one will restrict all parking to 30 minutes (which will be free) and the other will give the first 30 minutes free with the option to pay to stay longer.

Unfortunately all but one of the roads for the trial will be in New Malden, but a small section of Brighton Road Surbiton is included. Parking spaces on Brighton Road North Side, Eastbound from Jct with Cottage Grove to Pedestrian Crossing will soon become limited to 30 minutes free parking.  The remainder of the parking bays in Brighton Road will be unaffected.

We have concerns that this small stretch of road being time limited to 30 minutes and the other side not offering any free parking time will confuse motorists.  The stated aim of the scheme is to increase trade for the retailers, but this is not listed as one of the benchmarks for analysing the trial, so how will they know if it helps traders? We’ve also asked for traffic flows to be monitored during the trial on this busy stretch of road.

says Cllr Liz Green

To see the full details of the trial please see the Infrastructure, Projects and Contracts committee agenda item 5 on Kingston Council’s website.

If you have a view on the trial or experience any problems please let us know at councillors@stmarkslibdems.co.uk