Parking consultation in disarray

The council’s report on the changes to the Hampton Wick CPZ (Zone X) has exposed even deeper flaws in the process and decision-making. The HWA is vigorously objecting.

Although billed as “minor amendments” the changes proposed by the council will have significant impact in several areas. In particular, the wholesale replacement of single yellow lines (SYLs), which allow parking in the evenings and overnight, with double yellow lines (DYLs) which prohibit parking at any time. In some areas, SYLs provide much needed parking for local pubs and restaurants, as well as for people returning from work in the evenings.

While the change from SYLs to DYLs can be justified in some areas for safety or access reasons, in other areas the SYLs are causing no problems but do provide valuable parking for residents and businesses. We feel that each area should be assessed on its merits rather than a blanket approach being taken.

There were also serious concerns about the fitness of the consultation process itself, with many residents finding the documents and diagrams unclear and misleading. The HWA protested these concerns but council officials overruled them. Read the full background here.

On 29th July 2026, the council published the result of its consultation (click here) together with its decision to proceed with the proposal, with no amendments. In its report it claimed that it received only seven responses to the consultation and then listed the points made by those respondents.

The HWA was very surprised that there were so few responses – we know the strength of local feeling on the issues raised – and furthermore we did not see in the points listed by the council any reference to the points we know are of greatest concern locally. We therefore contacted members of our committee and local residents who we believed were interested to find out whether they had responded to the consultation and whether they felt their views were included in the list.

We discovered multiple instances of people who made submissions to the consultation and whose views were not represented at all in the council officers’ report. These views which are material to the proposal as it affects specific local areas were therefore not represented to the decision-makers.

The “missing” responses include those made via the website portal and via email. Some respondents received and retained confirmation of their submission, others did not but nonetheless have clear recollection of making their submissions. There are many more than seven responses that have “gone missing”.

The HWA has now written formally to the council, including our local councillors, outlining the issue of the “missing responses”. We believe that both the report and the decision that was based on the report must be withdrawn.

Click here to read the HWA letter to Council 5th August 2026 (downloads PDF).

We have asked for a response by Friday 14th August, after which we may be forced to issue a Pre-Action Protocol letter relating to a potential application for judicial review.

Are you affected by this council decision? If you submitted your views to the consultation and feel they were not included in the officers’ report, please let us know by emailing info@hamptonwick.org.uk.