Survey Claims to Show Ample Parking in Chiswick

Concludes that over 40 spaces always available in the centre of town

Local traders say usage has fallen since access at the centre of the car park was removed

January 23, 2024

A new survey has been published which claims to show that there is ample car parking space available in the centre of Chiswick.

The study was conducted by Benchmark Data Collection, an independent company that has been undertaking traffic surveys for over thirty years across London and the southern counties of England. It was paid for by Birchgrove, the developer of the police station, the Flower Market and Hounslow Council.

The survey covered the central car park between Linden Gardens and Devonshire Road, sometimes known as Old Market Place, the council-owned car park on Bond Street near the alley way by Tesco Express, and nearby roads such as Belmont Road and Belmont Terrace with available parking. Parking in the car park behind Marks and Spencer and the Sainsbury’s car park was not covered.

Snapshot surveys were carried out at fifteen-minute in the car parks or three-hourly intervals in the on-street parking bays during weekdays and weekends between 7am and 7pm between 30 October - 11 November 2023. Data was not collected during school holidays or when an event was taking place that might have influenced results.

A proposal is being made by the organisers of the Flower Market for improvements to the area around the central Chiswick car park. If they were to be approved there would be a reduction in the number of bays from 52 to 33, although some of this fall would be due to the need to the car park to be compliant with more recent regulations which require wider bays. Of the 33 remaining car parking space 12 would be electric vehicle charging spaces.

Cllr Joanna Biddolph who represents Chiswick Gunnersbury ward responded by saying, “A fundamental error is that the hours covered by the survey stopped at 7pm. Hospitality businesses need the car park to be available for their customers until late at night and most nights the central car park is 80% to 90% full. Many hospitality businesses do their best trade in the evenings and, especially on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights when the car park is almost always full until at least 11pm. The central car park is busiest during hours that were not included in the survey. The survey should have included these evenings and these hours when the car park is most used.

“Another problem is that the central car park predominantly services businesses that open between 9am and 10am so the 7am start time is also misleading, making the parking need seem less than it is in reality through a judicious choice of hours. “

She disputes the notion that spaces aren’t needed if car parks are not full all the time saying this shows a lack of understanding about how car parks should work as there should always be some spare capacity to allow for vehicles coming and going. She believes demand should be taken from the busiest days and times, not averages across a selection of days and hours.

She refers back to a previous survey of shoppers parking in the centre of Chiswick she undertook which she says shows that a large proportion were from outside Chiswick and would be unlikely to be aware of other space available outside the central core.

Cllr Biddolph concludes, “The conclusion of this survey, if analysed according to actual demand not averages, is that current car parking provision at the central car park is appropriate for Chiswick. It is essential to encourage people to come and spend money in Chiswick. “

She adds, “This car park survey is misleading and is an attempt to disguise the very real reductions in parking there will be. Further, it is another divisive move in a town where traders need a period of calm and consolidation, not more disruption and fear for the future. Car parking spaces have an economic value to the town. We should value them. Losing any spaces puts Chiswick’s retail and hospitality economy seriously at risk.”

On the plans for the redesign of the central car park she says there is concern locally that the remaining available spaces will be taken up by Birchgrove staff and visitors to the new housing and that the 12 electric vehicle charging spaces out of the remaining 33 will be used by people not primarily there to shop. She claims that this could result in the actually number of spaces available to shoppers would fall to as low as 18.

Source: Benchmark Data Collection

One local trader with premises near the central car park said, “The findings of this survey don’t surprise me, but they shouldn’t be seen as indicating a lack of demand for parking in the centre of Chiswick. Since, the introduction of the Cycle lane, it is far less obvious how to enter the car park and there is no sign to indicate how to get in. Many people needing to park to shop will be from outside the area and they are likely to be encouraged to go elsewhere.

“Although, the loss of parking space on Sundays when the markets are taking place isn’t helpful, this is mitigated by other restrictions not applying that day. The real hammer blow to trading is the general fall in car park use across the week due to its inaccessibility although exactly what the impact has been is hard to unpick from the effects of Covid and the hard times many people are experiencing right now.

“Parking in bays and car parks north of the High Road has fallen because access from Fishers Lane has been removed so there is no direct route to the centre of town from that direction.

“If the council took measure to promote Chiswick as a shopping destination and made it clearer where parking was available, like every other town centre in the country, then parking space would be at a premium. ”