Elizabeth line has made parking awful, say residents

People living near a south-east London station say the arrival of the Elizabeth line has led to an "unbearable" parking situation.

Residents of Priory Gardens estate in Abbey Wood say they can no longer easily park on their own streets due to commuters taking up spaces.

Bexley Council said it was planning to introduce parking restrictions.

But residents say their complaints have been ignored and vulnerable people have been "forgotten about".

One resident, Nicky Evans, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service parking had "never ever been an issue", but the problem had been getting "progressively worse" since the new line opened in May.

Previously, the station had only served Southeastern and Thameslink lines.

Last month, Elizabeth line services from Abbey Wood were connected to two other parts of the line, allowing passengers to travel from the station across London without having to change stations.

Ms Evans, who has lived on the estate for 20 years, said she could not drive her children to school without losing her parking space.

She said the "awful" situation meant people visiting vulnerable residents often could not park.

"We've got someone who has carers coming in who can't park here. Things like that just aren't thought about."

She also said the atmosphere had become "tense" on the estate, whereas it had previously always been friendly.

She added many people had raised the problem with the local authority but nothing had been done.

"Everyone's been saying for months 'it's going to be an issue' and they just don't take any notice. They're not interested," she said.

She added she and her partner now planned to move elsewhere with their four-year-old twins.

"We wanted to stay in this bit because it's really nice and quiet and it's always been a lovely little hidden bit to live. Now, I don't actually want to live down here anymore because it's just turned into a stressful road to park."

Pat Stratfull, who has lived in Priory Gardens since 1999, said everyone in the estate was "fed up" with the issue and described the road beside her home as a "bottleneck".

She said: "Every so often you get one particular day when it just goes wrong all day long because people keep parking across the dropped curbs. It's ridiculous."

A spokesperson for Bexley Council said the authority was carrying out a project to introduce restrictions around Abbey Wood station "to help relieve the parking pressure that is a direct consequence of the Elizabeth line opening earlier in the year".

The council added it had to follow a "statutory process", which would include consultation with residents and other parties before any restrictions could be brought in.

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