Six key parking questions for Westminster City Council

News from Westminster Labour

Six key parking questions for Westminster City Council

By Westminster Labour ⋅ August 11, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment
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Labour Councillors have demanded answers to 6 key questions from Westminster City Council’s Chief Executive following last week’s decision to introduce evening and Sunday parking charges which will raise an extra £7 million for the Council.

The 6 questions are;

1. The Cabinet Minutes of the meeting held on 18th January 2010 PARKING POLICY OPTIONS 2010/11 (Item 6 – Report of Strategic Director of City Management; Strategic Director, Built Environment and City Commissioner of Transportation) report that;

“The Leader advised that he had agreed to the late circulation of this report as an item of urgent business”.

Labour Councillors have asked why was this matter was deemed urgent in January 2010?

2. The decision notice following the Cabinet meeting on 1st August 2011 records the decision;

“To extend, on an experimental basis for up to 18 months, on street parking controls from 18.30-00.00 (midnight) on weekday and Saturday evenings in Zones E and G as given ‘in principle’ approval by Cabinet on 18th January 2010,”

Labour Councillors have asked why was approval given ‘in principle’ to extend parking charges to the evenings in January 2010 without a comprehensive evidence base?

3. Labour Councillors have asked, if evening parking controls were agreed ‘in principle’ 18 months ago, what was the Council consulting about in 2010/11 and why was there a need for a parking survey to provide the evidence base?

4. The January 2010 ‘in principle’ decision did not mention the introduction of Sunday parking controls. Labour Councillors have asked for the date when Sunday parking controls were first put forward by officers and for the date when Sunday parking proposals were first put in the public domain by the Council?

5. Given that Sunday parking controls appear to be a very late proposal and given that Sunday is obviously a very special day for churches, why were no special consultation arrangements put forward by officers in order to consult the many churches in the West End on this new policy change on which the churches were bound to have a view?

6. Labour Councillors have also challenged Council Leader Colin Barrow to explain why the Westminster Conservative Party said absolutely nothing about the plan to introduce evening and Sunday parking charges in their Manifesto for the 2010 Council Elections. Labour say that there is not a single word in the Conservative Election Manifesto to explain why the Conservatives planned to introduce these new charges if they were re-elected lat May.

Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Leader of the Labour Group, said; “Westminster Council has some serious questions to answer about the urgent ‘in principle’ decision to introduce evening parking charges in January 2010 and the subsequent botched ‘consultation’. There are also big questions still unanswered about the failure to properly consult the West End churches this May. And the Conservative Party needs to tell us why their Election Manifesto in May 2010 failed to mention the new parking charges they planned to introduce.”

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