AFC Wimbledon parking ‘nightmare’ restrictions slashed by council
By Charlotte Lillywhite, Local Democracy Reporter
Parking restrictions dubbed a “nightmare” for residents and businesses near a football stadium have been slashed after they received heavy criticism.
The restrictions mean visitors have to pay up to £9.15 to park on streets surrounding AFC Wimbledon’s Plough Lane stadium during home football matches.
Wandsworth Council’s finance committee agreed to reduce the hours when the restrictions apply at a meeting on March 1 – slashing the controls from 9.30am to 9.30pm, to 1pm to 8.30pm on the days that AFC Wimbledon holds home matches or events.
Conservative councillor Peter Graham asked if more signs could be put up to warn drivers of the restrictions.
Mr O’Donnell said the cost of the four signs would be “relatively minimal” and officers could explore the idea.
The restrictions were introduced in October 2021, after the football stadium was built, to prevent football fans overwhelming the area during matches.
They limit parking to resident, business or visitor permit holders and non-permit holders can only stay for a maximum of one hour.
Residents must buy a permit for their visitors if they stay longer than the one hour allowed at the pay and display machines, which costs £9.15 for a scratchcard permit and £8.60 for a paperless permit. Discounted permits are available for residents aged 70 years or over and for Blue Badge holders.
Local Jo Lewis told the transport committee at a meeting last November the controls are “not wanted, not needed and they’re making everyone’s lives a nightmare”.
She said: “Vulnerable people are finding their lives are made more complicated by these restrictions. Lonely people are finding it harder to encourage people to come and visit them and people on low incomes either have to find the money they can’t afford to have friends or family over or risk facing a fine. People with businesses in the local area are finding the parking issues are making it harder for their businesses to survive.”
A consultation earlier last year revealed that while 73 per cent of respondents wanted to keep restrictions on match days, 48 per cent wanted them to be reduced.
Officers investigated options to cut the restrictions after the transport committee in November and the latest changes have now been approved by the finance committee.
The restrictions apply on days when AFC Wimbledon’s first team has a home match, which is roughly 23 to 25 times during the football season.
Pictured top: AFC Wimbledon’s stadium on Plough Lane, Wandsworth (Picture: Google Street View)
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An email from Michael Shanks (Wandsworth Council Parking Compliance) stated the following:
“ Waldron Road SW18 is a one hour controlled parking zone L2. In the L2 One-hour zone the bays remain ‘Permit holders only’, and allow only L2 resident or business or resident visitor permit holders to park as there are no facilities in One-hour Zone roads to allow visitors to pay at a machine or by phone. This means that you can purchase and activate the one-hour resident visitor parking permits which are part of your allocation, to cover a vehicle during this time as they are valid for the entire event day (9:30am – 9:30pm).”