Cottage Grove...

12 years ago...

Does anybody else have to park in Cottage Grove and is always worried about what scuffs and scratches you'll find on your car every day? Why can nobody park without causing damage to other peoples cars? Why can't people park in a space and not take up two spaces? Why can't people be honest and leave their details when they do leave a nice expensive scrape?

I propose a petition to have proper spaces marked out within the bays... Would anybody agree?

Comments

Why can't people park considerately - excellent question to which I think I know the answer... They are not considerate. They care about nobody but themselves. I frequently see people parked across the middle of a space that can take two cars. It is selfish and arrogant behaviour. I try to politely make people aware of the issue when I'm feeling up to it but am usually greeted with nonchalance or flapping excuses. Maybe if more of us made a (polite but firm) point of it more often people would start to get it. Anyone up for it?

This is especially irritating when someone parks in such a way which forces you to park awkwardly, then when they leave - you look like the culprit!!!

Who can we propose marked parking bays to? The council?

If marked bays are introduced then I think people will have no choice but to park properly, reducing the risk of damage to vehicles and wasted space.

Should probably start with reporting to RBK, they've been helpful when I've spoken to them. While painting parking bays will hopefully encourage people to park better, I would hate to see people fined for parking across two bays if they are only reacting to poor parking by another party who has subsequently departed.

Contact your local councillors - details at

http://stmarksward.mycouncillor.org.uk/

Cottage Grove was blocked off and made a cul-de-sac when the Post Office sorting office was in use, presumably to stop all their heavy trucks driving past the cottages. As a road licence tax payer I always felt that this was an illegal theft of my right to use a good road to induce the Cottage Grove residents to vote for whichever party that did it.
Now that the sorting office has gone it should surely be reopened for the purpose it was built and paid for? If it is reopened drivers will not have to do u turns to get back on the Brighton Road and thereby reduce bumps and scrapes.
RBK seems to be spectacularly good at finding money for pointless anti car installations. Green cycle zones at traffic lights that no sane cyclist would use, red zones for who knows what, speed tables, low emission signage, Twenty is Plenty etc. These all cost a fortune and require ongoing maintenance to achieve nothing. Pothole filling and routine maintenance budgets seem to be raided and safety is compromised.
Cars are now much greener and are aspirational things for young people. Mums love their 4x4 kid carriers. This area has serious motor racing pedigree with Coopers, Jack Braham, Brooklands and Cobra. If a councillor wants to waste council tax on having a go at cars then he/ she should read about King Canute.

I guess in your deranged world the council are also to blame for the bad weather we've been having recently.

Back in reality, if you'd actually read the thread, you'd see that this parking / congestion problem has been raised by concerned residents, fed-up with damage to their cars & inability to park. Why shouldn't they go to the council for help? Why shouldn't councillors listen to their concerns? If the councillors didn't listen to their concerns, lunatics like yourself would be the first to complain.

Lunatic, deranged, if the cap fits wear it.
The fact of the matter is that we all need cars to have our lifestyles if some get bent, so what.
The sooner Cottage Groce becomes an urban thoroughfare the better.

Lunatic, deranged, if the cap fits wear it.
The fact of the matter is that we all need cars to have our lifestyles if some get bent, so what.
The sooner Cottage Groce becomes an urban thoroughfare the better.

Lunatic, deranged, if the cap fits wear it.
The fact of the matter is that we all need cars to have our lifestyles if some get bent, so what.
The sooner Cottage Groce becomes an urban thoroughfare the better.

I think you've just proved something. I'm not sure what though.

I seem to remember the road was closed off long before Surbiton Plaza was built.

Yep, closed off for as long as I have lived here (10+years)

I can't really see any value in having it open as it only runs between Victoria and Brighton Roads anyway, so would just be another rat run.

If I had my way, I'd close off a lot of the purely residential roads in a similar way to stop people rat-running through them in order to save a couple of minutes. It would make it a much more pleasant environment for people living in the road and might cause a few traffic jams that would make people think twice about driving short journeys in built up areas like this.

The other poster does have a point, though - blocking off Cottage Grove effectively makes it a private road, so should the council have to pay to upkeep it, or should it be down to the residents?

Funny how the council decided to resurface the road outside County Hall while the rest of the roads in Surbiton look like the Helmand province.
Nice one Kingston Council.

Drive over the border into Long Ditton, if you dare, along St Mary's Road ... potholes galore.

stick to the roads that will be used for Olympic cycling - they are as smooth as glass

Not so sure about that. The time trial will go along Portsmouth Road which I would hardly call the best road surface in the borough.

not sure when you last went down there but the last few weeks they have been resurfacing - for a laugh they should make them go down Windmill Lane.

Oh, I didn't realise. Thought I went down there last week but maybe not. Well, maybe I'll benefit from the Olympics after all - in the form of intact suspension on my car. Good news!

Sending them down Windmill Lane would be like the Paris-Roubaix.

I'd definitely agree. The problem with Cottage Grove is that there are too many comings and goings to get to the take-aways and Blockbuster on Brighton Road.

Because Brighton Road itself and the top of Cottage Grove are always so packed, people will go right down to the bottom of the road and then do very tight 3 point turns to get out again.

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