Concreting Suburbia

As councils become more aggressive with parking restrictions and fines, residents of many of the outer boroughs are opting to install a driveway and erect a parking space in their front gardens. This is supported by law, so councils have no choice but to allow homeowners to do this. The council also provides the required modification of the pavement.

The net result of this breaks down as follows:

1. A garden is now a car park
2. The pavement is wonky
3. The bit of road in front of the drive-way is now in effect reserved and cannot be used by any one else for parking

The results are easy to see in satellite imagery – London is becoming grey. Trees and gardens are being uprooted to make space for cars. The parked car now needs to cross the pavement several times a day - a dangerous manoeuvre. Not only does this look ugly, it's bad for safety, bad for the environment and costs us all a fortune.

The Solution

The solution looks simple, but requires a change of the law at the national level. Just skip steps 1 & 2! The council should simply allocate the same bit of road that the driveway would have required to the homeowner. No need to ruin gardens, trees and pavements – all you need is some yellow paint.

The net result is as follows:

1. The garden is still a garden
2. The pavement is straight and safe
3. The bit of road in front of the drive-way is now in effect reserved and cannot be used by any one else for parking