Swiss Cottage Market parking getting sorted at last..

I'm delighted that my colleague Cllr Chris Knight has overseen the introduction of special new signs that will make the vexed issue of parking around Swiss Cottage Market easier to understand and enforce. The signs, which have a motorised flip down plate, change depending on whether the market is open or closed, and should stop the use of the pedestrian market area as a free car park.

The Council decided to use the changeable signs instead of putting down double yellow lines and installing multiple signs, in order to preserve the clutter free look of the pedestrianised area. Special Department for Transport permission was granted for this approach.

The Council will continue to leaflet cars parked illegally in the area to ensure people understand the controls, as well as issuing tickets where appropriate. The new approach will ensure that residents and shoppers can make full use of the pedestrianised market without the disruption and congestion of illegally parked cars. The new signs will replace the access bollard, which was a good idea but has proved unreliable. Without a current alternative method of parking enforcement, the space was being used as a free car-park, but this should now be stopped by the new signs.