PARKING MANAGEMENT
LONDON 2012 THE show O
n Sunday 5 August, Seamus Adams, head of parking at the London Borough of Hackney will know if all the planning meetings, contingency measures and consideration of meticulous details has been successful.
The previous day will have seen up to 300,000 people visit the borough, en route to the Olympic Park, or to one of the fringe festivals being held across the borough over the Olympic period.
And throughout June, July and August, Hackney will be hosting a range of events – including the Radio One Big Weekend, the torch relay, the Hackney carnival and the Shoreditch Festival. Such a high volume of human traffi c is going to have inevitable consequences for the borough’s services and Adam’s job is to ensure that local residents and businesses do not suffer unduly.
Under pressure to perform ‘This year we are embarking on something totally new,’ he said. ‘The big issue will be ensuring that businesses can continue; we need to get deliveries in, and keep the roads moving.’
Amid all the excitement of the Games arriving in the capital, it is easy to forget the pressure that the six Olympic boroughs – Barking and Dagenham, Greenwich, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest and Hackney – will be under to maintain services. ‘There are so many potential issues: we will have to alter waste collections; meals on wheels need to be coordinated so they still arrive at the right time; people still need to get to work. The majority of the population do not see the implications,’ said Adams.
www.britishparking.co.uk
The big issue will be ensuring that
businesses can continue; we need to get deliveries in, and keep the roads moving
Seamus Adams
The borough has renewed its parking contract with Apcoa and the parking company has been on hand to advise and offer solutions to parking issues that have arisen since London started preparing for the Olympics and Paralympics.
MUST GO ON
For several weeks in the summer, the eyes of the world will be turned on Hackney. Parking, like other public services, will be under the spotlight so Sarah Juggins went to fi nd out how the borough is preparing
The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) has also been working with all the affected London boroughs to help ensure that traffi c and roads keep running as smoothly as possible.
‘Among the measures we are bringing in
are virtual permits for residents, and at least another 35 personnel to work across the parking operation in the borough,’ said Adams. However, key to the success of Hackney’s plans will be the council’s ability to communicate information effectively to its residents and the millions of visitors expected to attend the Games. With 30,000 journalists camped on its doorstep and the eyes of the world on the borough, it is important that people know what is happening. As Adams knows, one mistake could make a mockery of the whole operation.
Good public relations
One of the main changes over the summer period will be the extension of existing controlled parking zones (CPZs) and the introduction of a number of temporary CPZs across the borough. These will operate from 8am-9pm, and communicating the imposition of these will be vital for good public relations between the council and its residents. One way of assuring this will happen is the borough’s policy of employing locally-based staff wherever possible. Within the Apcoa parking enforcement team, 80 per cent of employees are from the local area. ‘It will be a successful games for us if residents and businesses have managed to live a normal, undisrupted life for the duration of the event. We certainly do not want it to be seen as being detrimental to the area,’ said Adams. ‘It is also a chance to put Hackney on the map and increase the revenue for local business. There has already been a knock-on effect with artists and musicians moving to areas such as Hoxton and Dalston.’ Change is in the air in Hackney. There is vibrancy across the borough and it is attracting the artistic community, including celebrities such as the pop star Rihanna, and young, moneyed professionals. The next few weeks could see Hackney’s traffi c management team becoming a star performer at the Games.
MAY 2012 35
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