New parking restrictions on the roads near The Valley will be coming into force in December. Parking on many nearby roads will be subject to permit, with non-permit parking being limited to two hours between 9am and 6.30pm on Monday - Saturday.
There was very little support for the new restrictions from local residents (consultation responses were 15 to 1 against) but they will nevertheless be implemented with works starting "within the next couple of weeks" to instal the relevant signage.
Charlton supporters who currently park in these roads and walk to The Valley will be at risk of fines.
We understand that there will be a few free parking bays available but the restrictions will basically preclude parking on the Charlton slopes (Sherington, Hopedale, Eastcombe etc plus Eversley, Sandtoft and Bramshot); South of Charlton Road (Furzefield, Hassendean, Craigerne etc); near The Valley (Coxmount, Hasted, Charlton Lane); near The Village (St. Alfege, Fletching, Guild etc) and Anchor & Hope Lane.
See the maps below for more precise detail:
https://res.cloudinary.com/commonplace-digital-limited/image/upload/v1679313537/projects/62eb8ac060ca189e201e3674/media-upload/Charlton%20CPZ%20Review%20Design%20Plans.pdf/ttnr2umjkboqky3jtxim.pdf
In addition the council have this week proposed a further extension of restrictions specifically for Charlton match days. These will extend the two hour stay limit to 9pm which means that it won't be possible to park in the affected roads for midweek evening or bank holiday games.
Consultation on the match day restrictions is open until November 8th so you can express your opinion here:
https://parkingingreenwich.commonplace.is/en-GB/proposals/charlton-match-day-parking-restrictions/step1
Along with the vast majority of local residents who responded to the original proposals CAST thinks the controls are disproportionate. They will without doubt have an effect on attendances at CAFC. We are in favour of efforts to reduce car travel but, although many fans will be able to use a different mode of transport or at least find alternative parking further away, some (particularly the elderly or infirm) will inevitably decide that it is too much trouble. We suspect also that the extension will simply displace parking to different parts of the area - in particular south of Charlton Park.
We believe that the additional proposed matchday controls announced this week will have an even greater effect on already declining mid week attendances as many fans will not relish a long walk back to a car on a winter night or trusting to the vagaries of public transport. Given that there are usually fewer than 10 first team evening matches at The Valley in 365 days we feel that these additional controls are particularly disproportionate.
In the next few days we will be launching a survey of Charlton supporters so as to gain a better understanding of how the matchday controls will impact them. We will of course share the outcome with all interested parties.
