Hounslow promises to end dual registration required for local residents to drive to their homes in Grove Park

Sign on the A316 warning drivers not to turn into Grove Park unless they have a residents’ parking permit

No more ‘White list’ registration

Drivers in London have long been used to having to apply for a residents’ parking permit. They are now almost universal and inspire only minor grumbling amongst motorists.

In Grove Park however, not only do local resident / drivers have to have a residents’ permit, but they also have to register separately in order to get to their homes from the A316, the main road bordering the area.

Resident car owners have to register online on a ‘White list’, with all the palaver of proving their identity again, to be exempted from the ban which prevents drivers turning into Grove Park from the A316 at Chiswick Bridge without the requisite permit.

They find that if they take step one, but not step two, in the fond belief that having the relevant parking permit entitles them to drive along Hartington Road (which in theory it does), they are fined.

Cllr Amy Croft at Strand on the Green

The two IT systems should be amalgamated by December, says Cllr Amy Croft

As a Grove Park resident I am not alone in finding this deeply irritating. It is a subject which comes up again and again on the doorstep, says Chiswick Riverside councillor Amy Croft.

“I have been listening to residents and working positively with Officers in the Council to try and find better ways for us to deliver some of our services”, she tells The Chiswick Calendar.

“Residents sometimes fall foul of penalty notices by assuming they have an automatic exemption due to holding a valid parking permit in an area where they are entitled to an exemption. Whilst, in my experience, the Council have been willing to waive these fines once the misunderstanding has been explained, this is obviously not an ideal solution.

“I have been speaking to Officers on this topic for some time and have now managed to secure agreement that they will move to amalgamate the two systems”.

Contrary to popular belief that the dual system is deliberate entrapment designed to extort as much money as possible from residents, her understanding is that the dual registration came about as an unintentional by-product of the introduction of the Low Traffic Neighbourhood, as a result of the inability of two of the Council’s IT systems to talk to each other.

“They are currently looking at the logistics of this, but hope to have it completed by December”, she says, “so please be mindful that this will remain as two separate systems until then.

“There are a number of other areas, shaped by talking to residents about their interactions with the Council, where I am in discussions with officers about positive changes we can make to improve resident experience, so watch this space!”

READ ALSO: The power of positive politics – guest blog by Chiswick Riverside councillor Amy Croft

Amy was elected to Hounslow Council in 2022 and is the only Labour councillor currently representing Chiswick on the Council apart from Ranjit Gill, who was elected as a Conservative and swapped party last year.

She is standing for re-election in Riverside in May.

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