Baffled residents are up in arms after workers began fitting dozens of metal poles for extra parking signs in their streets – and they fear thousands may soon appear around the borough.
People living in the Ravenscourt Park and Starch Green conservation area say the move by Hammersmith and Fulham Council is a 'triumph of bureaucracy over common sense' and believe the signs springing up outside their own homes are just the beginning.
They are calling on the authority to stop adding more of the three-metre posts, which began appearing in Rylett Crescent and Rylett Road at the end of last week, prompting some residents to try to block the path of workers.
Around 60 poles are due to be installed in surrounding roads in controlled parking zone I, but council leader Stephen Greenhalgh has now ordered work to stop until the merits of the project can be discussed at a cabinet meeting next week.
Clare Burnett, 45, leading the residents' campaign, said: "This is a council whose written policy is to clear as much street clutter as possible.
"We live in a conservation area and it's extremely important that the council looks after the historic quality of the borough – that is part of its duty.
"We have to get permission to prune the trees in our streets, and as a community everyone takes enormous care of the space they live in. This is just careless."
Tim Wilcockson, 51, of Rylett Crescent, said: "Everybody who lives in greater London or any big city knows all bays have some kind of restriction. I always just go to the parking meter to find out what the restrictions are.
"There has never even been a problem with parking in this area."
And fellow resident Laetitia Drury said: "This may be needed in other areas, although I don't think it will be, and it is certainly not needed here.
"There's no civic pride – it's a triumph of bureaucracy over common sense."
The residents say they were told by officers on the street that 5,000 more signs are to be installed around Hammersmith and Fulham – equivalent to around 15km of steel posts - but deputy council leader Nick Botterill this week insisted that the project is limited to their controlled parking zone.
Cllr Botterill said: "We do not want to put these poles up as we are committed to reducing clutter on our streets. However, the rules relating to signs and road markings are complex and councils are increasingly subject to legal challenge in this area. These additional signs are being installed to make sure there is no doubt that the signage is correct."
