Two of the top ranked Conservative councils in Britain are blazing trails in opposite directions by developing radical new approaches to parking in the Capital. One way to go, currently on trial in Westminster, has triggered rising waves of objections and protest. The other has triggered an outburst of support from local businesses and cross-party calls for its immediate introduction in other boroughs.
Westminster City Council (WCC) are trialling an extension of constraints on parking that is unprecedented throughout the developed world. Under ‘experimental traffic orders‘ the council have imposed charges for parking motorcycles in M/C bays for the first time on UK public roads in their borough. This pioneering scheme is however increasingly unpopular with scooter and motorbike riders as news of it spreads. In the first six months of the trial the costs of ‘improvements’ that were originally used to justify the new charges have been finalised at £380,000, but the surplus from fines and fees has topped £2million – and is rising every day. The pioneer of the controversial scheme is Cllr Danny Chalkley who will begin a review of the trial this week. WCC have already received over 3,000 written objections to the trial and seen a succession of demonstrations against the scheme as TC reported here. The latest ‘Bikers Storm City Hall’ demo involved 500 riders jamming Park Lane in the rush and holding an impromptu meeting in the council’s foyer on Tuesday. Links to reports and vids ca be found here at the no-to-bike-parking-tax website here. Meanwhile, in the neighbouring Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), the council have taken an equally radical step in the opposite direction to WCC. RBKC have now decided to make parking for cars and motorbikes completely free on many key streets in an attempt to woo shoppers back into the borough. Reports on this from the BBC are here. This radical move by Conservative led RBKC is however also attracting support from local business and the Labour opposition group in Camden and as reported in local press here and here and by Newsblog Labour. TC notes various things with interest: As public anger at the new WCC scheme grows it seems that Conservative parliamentarians are moving on from fence sitting, in the form of a position that this scheme is a ‘local politics issue’ – to one in which the nationwide implications of the WCC trial is being considered and commented on in a more critical way. 
Not least of these is Tory Shadow Roads Minister, Robert Goodwill MP. He has now expressed hopes that the WCC scheme will not be “replicated widely”. Big new challenges for local authorities and elected members regarding the direction of parking policy are emerging from these recent developments. TC suggests that the key questions are these: Will cash strapped local authorities look at their dwindling funds and take a lead from WCC in trying to turn bikers into the next source of transport related stealth tax revenue. Or, will WCC become increasingly isolated from other authorities and support from Conservative party HQ. Lastly, what will promoters of the ‘need’ for parking fees and fines do if a radical and nationwide shift towards free parking makes life better for local communities?
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Posted in About, What’s happening
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Labels: Bikers Storm City Hall, Camden, Conservatives, Danny Chalkley, Labour, M/C bays, motorcycle parking tax, Robert Goodwill, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Tory Shadow Roads Minister Robert Goodwill, Westminster City Council
22nd February 2009
by Leon Mannings
Protagonists of road humps and other physical traffic calming measures had until now rejected or ignored claims over many years that such measures have serious adverse side-effects on emergency services response times and pollution in residential areas. See recent report on air quality damage here and BBC news of problems from 2003, including noise from humps . But the latest news re-asserts criticisms that were previously vigorously brushed aside – namely that road humps can; “kill hundreds of ambulance patients each year” , unnecessarily cut police response times and damage emergency service vehicles – and that noise and air pollution are increased as car drivers are forced into patterns of deceleration and acceleration to achieve average speeds of 20 mph. As Ben Webster of the Times reports, “The Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) found that air pollution rose significantly on roads with humps. CO2 increased by 82% and nitrogen oxide (NOX) by 37%”. Webster also reports the hitherto regularly ignored and rejected claim by the London Ambulance Service that “humps cost lives because its crews are delayed in reaching cardiac arrest victims”. However, TC notes that the latest ‘news’ of these old objections just happens to have coincided with ‘type approval‘ for for the SPECS 3 average speed camera system which is a high-tec and potentially high revenue generating alternative to humps. The workings of which are explained here and the ‘advantages’ here . 
And the link between government approval of a penalty fine issuing speed camera alternative to road humps – and long resisted admissions of their shortcomings is established by erstwhile fans of road humps including Green Party GLA member Jenny Jones. Jones is now supporting the spread of average speed cameras to enforce 20 mph limits throughout most streets in London. But as Webster reveals, Jones now acknowledges that one advantage of the speed cams over humps is that they would “reduce emissions”. COST ISSUES The cost of these cameras systems is, nevertheless, the basis for a whole new set of concerns. Prices for a SPECS 3 camera start at £150K per pair. But TC is told that the sums required to cover large areas of residential streets – as envisaged by Jones & Co in the capital – could easily run into £millions. Nevertheless, TC also notes that there may be no need for local authorities to worry about such seemingly massive drains on their coffers. As Quentin Wilson reported recently, a ‘confidential report’ reveals that SPECS camera systems could monitor, “31,000 miles of road at a cost of £443million” (!) However, the report goes on to say that this could be recouped in two years – because just one pair of specs cameras in Notts generated an impressive £4.2million surplus in just five years. A penny for your thoughts, as they say!
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Posted in About, What’s happening
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Labels: Ben Webster, CO2, London Ambulance Service, NOX, Quentin Wilson, road humps, SPECS 3, SPECS average speed camera, traffic calming, type approval
11th February 2009
by Leon Mannings
Environmentally aware consumers face a double whammy of new difficulties on quests for the greenest food and ways to generate energy from renewable sources. A plan to ban food suppliers from calling produce ‘organic’ if it travels by air was reversed by the Soil Association this week – says Ben Webster of the Times. Meanwhile, a plan for the worlds largest-ever renewable energy project could match the output of eight coal fired power stations but comes with a big environmental catch. The sea-power harvesting scheme requires the building of a £20bn Severn Tidal Power Barrage in a ten mile stretch of sea between Cardiff and Weston-super-Mare. But some critics say this cause “unprecedented ecological damage to one of our most important natural habitats.” Well, so says Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor of The Independent. And McCarthy goes on to explain that Friends of the Earth believe that tax payers’ money could be better spent fighting climate change in other ways, while Greenpeace say the Government should make wind a priority. Choosing the greenest way to go seems to be an increasingly difficult task for all concerned. Correspondingly, TC looks forward to the next round of comments and suggestions on what will be best for most and of course our planet.
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Posted in About, What’s happening
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Labels: Ben Webster, coal fired power station, Environment, Friends of the Earth, Green, Greenpeace, Michael McCarthy, organic, power station, renewable energy, sea power, Severn barrage, Soil Association, tidal power, Treehugger, wave power, wind power
27th January 2009
by Leon Mannings
A procession of over 150 bikers rode through central London on Thursday lunchtime and rallied outside Conservative HQ. The angered riders were protesting against an unprecedented move by Westminster City Council to trial new charges for parking this congestion busting mode in previously free Solo M/C bays on public highways. See more photos and U-Tube vid It is feared that if Westminster get away with their ‘trial’ of new charges to park a mode that both the Labour Government and the Conservatives recognise as part of the solution to congestion problems, it will pave the way for cash-strapped local authorities to impose a new form of tax that is unprecedented in Britain or Europe. Riders arrived on motorcycles, scooters and mopeds and to dramatic effect. The aim of this event was to highlight differences, between opposition to stealth taxes that is favoured by vocal Conservatives like Eric Pickles MP – who has called for his party to eject any elected member involved with developing them – and what one of the richest Conservative Councils is currently doing in practice. 
A formal response by the Conservatives was read out to the assembled throng and elicited cheers as it acknowledged the positive role of motorbikes in congested cities. Boos soon followed however as the message was predictably and perhaps understandably non-committal in taking a stand against Councillor Chalkley and WCC. For details, follow link to Conservatives statement TC can now report however that in contrast to the current official Conservative Party view, privately, Tory HQ staff found the biker’s visit “very entertaining” – and have decided that the issue will be subject to serious scrutiny in due course. This latest protest ride was organised by the fast growing No-to Bike-Parking-Fees group. The demonstrators also stopped the traffic outside Westminster City hall which is just a stone’s throw from Parliament and were cheered by waves of support from council workers at their windows and crowds on the street. TC also notes that although this issue is currently not currently reported in mainstream media, a serious fight is escalating on the streets of central London between the richest Council in Britain (probably) and motorcycle and scooter riders who have been subjected to new parking charge that they say is simply a new stealth tax. In essence the story so far is this. Away from the glare of the mainstream media spotlight, Westminster City Council introduced an experimental motorbike parking charge scheme involving pay-by-mobile phone charges for riders to park anywhere on the public highways that they control. For details of the scheme go to Westminster Parking. Go here for previous TC blog on this saga
19th January 2009
by Leon Mannings
Nationwide Bus and Rail company FirstGroup gets 50% of its revenue from tax payers but it became the “second-worst performing stock in the FTSE 100″ yesterday. This clearly indicates that while UK government places great faith in the merits of travel by buses and trains, and expects public use of them to continue growing, investors in stocks and shares have no such faith or expectations. The crashing trend in FirstGroup shares accelerated following revelations in the US that despite the credit crunch, revenue from its ‘cheap’ and cheerful Greyhound bus service dropped by 4.5% in its third quarter of operations. So, if investors are running away from such companies, why do our governors and their vogue transport policy ‘experts’ in Britain remain wedded to a belief that modal shift to buses and trains is the best and most likely thing for the public to do? See what the Independent, and Guardian have to say.
15th January 2009
by Leon Mannings
Two of the top ranked Conservative councils in Britain are blazing trails in opposite directions by developing radical new approaches to parking in the Capital. One way to go, currently on trial in Westminster, has triggered rising waves of objections and protest. The other has triggered an outburst of support from local businesses and cross-party calls for its immediate introduction in other boroughs.
Westminster City Council (WCC) are trialling an extension of constraints on parking that is unprecedented throughout the developed world. Under ‘experimental traffic orders‘ the council have imposed charges for parking motorcycles in M/C bays for the first time on UK public roads in their borough. This pioneering scheme is however increasingly unpopular with scooter and motorbike riders as news of it spreads. In the first six months of the trial the costs of ‘improvements’ that were originally used to justify the new charges have been finalised at £380,000, but the surplus from fines and fees has topped £2million – and is rising every day. The pioneer of the controversial scheme is Cllr Danny Chalkley who will begin a review of the trial this week. WCC have already received over 3,000 written objections to the trial and seen a succession of demonstrations against the scheme as TC reported here. The latest ‘Bikers Storm City Hall’ demo involved 500 riders jamming Park Lane in the rush and holding an impromptu meeting in the council’s foyer on Tuesday. Links to reports and vids ca be found here at the no-to-bike-parking-tax website here. Meanwhile, in the neighbouring Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), the council have taken an equally radical step in the opposite direction to WCC. RBKC have now decided to make parking for cars and motorbikes completely free on many key streets in an attempt to woo shoppers back into the borough. Reports on this from the BBC are here. This radical move by Conservative led RBKC is however also attracting support from local business and the Labour opposition group in Camden and as reported in local press here and here and by Newsblog Labour. TC notes various things with interest: As public anger at the new WCC scheme grows it seems that Conservative parliamentarians are moving on from fence sitting, in the form of a position that this scheme is a ‘local politics issue’ – to one in which the nationwide implications of the WCC trial is being considered and commented on in a more critical way. 
Not least of these is Tory Shadow Roads Minister, Robert Goodwill MP. He has now expressed hopes that the WCC scheme will not be “replicated widely”. Big new challenges for local authorities and elected members regarding the direction of parking policy are emerging from these recent developments. TC suggests that the key questions are these: Will cash strapped local authorities look at their dwindling funds and take a lead from WCC in trying to turn bikers into the next source of transport related stealth tax revenue. Or, will WCC become increasingly isolated from other authorities and support from Conservative party HQ. Lastly, what will promoters of the ‘need’ for parking fees and fines do if a radical and nationwide shift towards free parking makes life better for local communities?
