Nobody likes having to pay to park outside their own house, myself included, but the introduction of parking zones in the Arthur Road environs has inevitably pushed the commuter parking problem further along.   Just ask the residents of Stuart Road, Melrose Avenue and the top end of Ashen Grove.  The situation will be exacerbated when Wandsworth introduces its controlled zone up to the middle of Revelstoke Road.

Merton Council has "consulted" its residents and the results should soon be known.  I gave the proposals a cautious "thumbs up" but expressed my reservations about the proposed 9.30am to 4.30pm controlled hours, far longer even than the 11.00am to 3.00pm in operation in the Arthur Road area.

I was subsequently informed by Cllr. Joyce Paton, who rang me to say these hours were compatible with the scheme being introduced by "the Brighter Borough".  Indeed, this was repeated by the senior council officers who attended the public exhibition in Wimbledon Park Hall.

However, at our AGM, I mentioned this to the Chairman of the Southfields Grid Residents' Association who informed me that the controlled hours being proposed on their side were 1.30 to 2.30pm.  To double check, I phoned the Parking Policy section at Wandsworth Town Hall, who confirmed that the single hour was all that was being proposed up to the Revelstoke Road boundary.

This one hour in the middle of the day is all they consider necessary to deter the all-day commuter parking.  In fact, it is already in operation in the Replingham Road/Southfields station area.  It is little wonder that this is a thriving local shopping centre whilst Arthur Road is in a state of perpetual decline?

I cannot believe for one minute that our Councillor deliberately misled me on this.  Can we assume then that both of us were misinformed by the Council officers?  Was this intentional or had nobody at Merton Civic Centre even checked with their counterparts at the London Borough of Wandsworth?

I put these questions in a letter to Richard Rawes, the Director of Merton's Environmental Services Department, but he has not yet made either acknowledgement or reply.