News from Westminster Labour

Labour calls on Cameron to stop plan to impose West End evening parking charges

Labour Westminster Councillors have called on Prime Minister David Cameron to stop Westminster Council wrecking the West End economy and putting thousands of jobs at risk by imposing Evening and Sunday parking charges in January 2012.

In a letter to David Cameron, Westminster Labour Group Leader Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg says;

Dear Mr Cameron,

Westminster City Council proposals to impose Evening and Sunday parking charges in the West End

I am writing to ask you to intervene in the current West End parking controversy which is threatening the future of thousands of businesses and thousands of jobs.

There are thousands of people who keep the West End’s night time economy ‘engine room’ going who simply cannot afford to pay £4.80p an hour to park their car and for whom the public transport option does not exist. And there are many current visitors to the West Ends theatres, clubs, restaurants and bars who, in January, will vote with their feet and chose other parts of London to spend their hard-earned money.

In all my years on Westminster City Council, I have never seen such a massive wave of opposition like this. Not even the 15p Cemeteries and the disgraceful ‘Homes for Votes’ scandals attracted such a broad coalition of anger from across the political spectrum. I attach a summary of the views of a wide range of businesses and others which demonstrate the strength of opposition to these proposals.

Westminster Council has done what no other Council has done before. It has united Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone. It has brought together the West End churches and the casinos. Big business and the trade unions speak with the same voice. Well-healed West End residents share the same concerns as the low-paid workers who commute in from the suburbs. It is difficult to find anyone who supports the new parking charges.

So far, Westminster Council has refused to budge one inch. Despite Boris Johnson’s protestations, he does not have the power to stop Westminster. And although many of your Government Ministers have joined the chorus of disapproval, none of them have taken action to stop Westminster’s folly.

What is needed is for you to step in and bring Westminster back in to line. The West End is the ‘jewel in the crown’ of UK plc. Westminster’s local parish politics cannot be allowed to threaten West End businesses and the jobs of thousands of people living in London and the South East.

Please act now to save the West End economy and the jobs of thousands of people.

Yours sincerely,

Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg
Leader of the Opposition
Westminster City Council

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