I have been watching events at close quarters as Westminster Council try to roll out a new parking tax for scooter and motorcycle riders. One way or another this saga could well become a turning point in the way that Traffic Act legislation is used in Britain as a cover for local authorities to tax motorised use of public highways. As it happens, I’ve also been doing what I can to guide all concerned towards a truly sustainable solution to the massive problems this regressive scheme has caused.
Recently this involved me being at the High Court for two days while the NTBPT case against the scheme was being considered. The case included a large amount of written evidence from both sides and an extensive witness statement from me as an independent Motorcycling Policy expert. I give my account of the proceedings below but first of all I set out what I think should happen next.
In my opinion, there is only one solution to the current mess that Westminster have got themselves into that is truly sustainable on all relevant levels, and it is simple. They should take steps to withdraw this totally unnecessary and unjustified tax and bin all plans to roll out such schemes to create a new nationwide revenue stream for local authorities. (For more details of this issue go to Crossroadsrider.com)
The bottom line for me is that the council have not made any plausible case to justify the scheme as a traffic management measure. What their ‘reasons’ for the scheme amount to is a misuse of Traffic Management Act legislation and spurious references to a need for new charges to ‘manage demand’ for parking scooters and motorcycles on parts of the public highway that have already been established for that purpose. Fortunately in my view there is a golden opportunity to make real progress towards a really sustainable solution.
As I have already suggested to Cllr Lee Rowley, the new guy in charge of the scheme in Westminster, he needs to take a golden opportunity presented by his current review of the whole saga and tell his colleagues that there are a great deal more disbenifits arising from trying to keep it in place in credit crunched Britain than benefits. He expressed enthusiasm for having a second meeting with me last time we spoke which I hope will happen soon.
In the meantime here is my summary of the NTBPT claim against Westminster City Council’s bike parking tax scheme. In essence the claim is that the Traffic Orders for the permanent scheme issued in Jan 2010, were not made according to all relevant regulations and that therefore the scheme is illegal and must be scraped.
And this is my take on how the hearing went…
There is no doubt that the authorities are taking this case extremely seriously as it was heard not by one judge, but two, including one of high seniority, Lord Justice, Sir John Pitchford.
During the first day he actually told the claimant’s barrister with a smile that he might be “pushing at an open door”. During the morning of day two, the NTBPT barrister made a series of well made points that caused the Westminster team to quite literally hold their heads in gloom. However, during the afternoon, the WCC defence barrister made a series of loose points and claims that the judges said were “unsubstantiated”. At one stage the proceedings took on an almost farcical tone as the Judges tried to get a clear idea of what the Western extension of the Congestion Charging zone was – and if it had anything to do with the case. Then, worryingly for all concerned with the claim, it seemed that the input from the defence was mostly accepted by the judges as a legitimate contribution to considering the pros and cons of the case. It seemed to me that the defence were being allowed to waffle about more or less anything without being held to account by the Judges on whether Westminster Council had really done what was legally required to justify making the scheme permanent. The simple two part question that was never asked of the council was this: What exactly is the problem you are saying you ‘need’ a new charging scheme to solve – and where is your evidence that you can’t address that problem fully with the immense amount of powers you already have to control parking of all vehicles on every inch of highway space under your management?
Obviously that did not bode well for a ruling against the new orders for the scheme…
In summarising where we ended up, I would suggest that it is impossible to say what the ruling will be, as there was so much written evidence that was only referred to briefly in the court. But although I still have some hope for a ruling in favour of the claim, there is a tremendous amount at stake here which the Judges revealed they were aware of. So, I have to strongly advise caution about assuming that just because the council did not really justify their new tax to the court, that the court will tell them to scrap it.
As far as I’m concerned some good points were scored for the claimants, but the NTBPT barrister may have put too much emphasis on a string of legal points drawn from previous cases than clearly spelling out the fundamental key points of the case against Westminster – even though the judges asked him to do just that on two or three occasions throughout the hearing.
So, here is my view of what the case is really about: The WCC Traffic Orders in question for the permanent scheme, made in Jan 2010, say that the main ‘reason’ to impose a new bike parking charge for on-street bays is a “need to manage demand for kerbside space” the key arguments against the scheme in my opinion are these:
1. WCC already had all the powers it needed to ‘manage’ and control parking of all vehicles, including motorcycles but without the new charging scheme.
2. The council has not made any case at all to justify an extension of their existing parking control powers, or produced a shred of evidence to support their waffled claim that charging bikes to park in existing on-street bays will make anything better.
3. The key reason that WCC gave for charging during the ‘trial’ scheme was to pay for better bike parking facilities, but that was dropped when it came to making the Traffic Orders to make the scheme permanent because as a matter of fact, all on-street motorcycle parking facilities in the form of bays and security devices that are subject to charging under the NEW orders made in January 2010, were all in place and paid for BEFORE the new orders were made.
4. No case has been made to show or evidence produced to prove that the imposition of a new charge for parking in on-street M/C parking bays has any impact whatsoever on WCC’s ability to manage demand for it.
5. The only truly plausible motive and reason for the new charges that Westminster have admitted to is a desire to use surplus revenue from the new scheme to address a fall in revenue from car parking.
The judges have said it may take them up to two weeks to reach a decision and issue a ruling so roll on July 9th…