News from Westminster Labour

Westminster ‘double selling’ residents parking bays

Residents parking bays sold twice over and nearly 1,000 residents are fined despite having a valid parking permit.

Westminster City Council has been charging residents nearly £4 million a year for residents’ parking permits and then raking in an additional £7.5 million a year by suspending the same residents parking bays and charging builders for the using the residents’ parking bays as construction sites. In addition in 2008, 996 parking fines were issued to residents for parking in a suspended parking bay even though they were displaying a valid resident permit, raking in a further £120,000 for the Conservative-run Council.

Information from a Freedom of Information request has revealed that between April 2008 and March 2009 the Council received £3,838,400 from residents for residents’ parking permits. Between April 2008 and March 2009 the Council received income of £7,532,900 by charging for suspended residents’ parking bays.

Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Leader of the Labour Group said:

“This is a gigantic Council money-making scam by selling the same parking spaces twice over and then fining residents. The Council is making money out of selling residents parking permits, then charging building companies for using the same residents’ parking spaces, and then getting even more money by fining unfortunate residents for parking in their street even though they have got a valid parking permit.

“There needs to be thorough review of this underhand and unfair practice. At the moment the Council can give just 24 hours’ notice of a parking bay suspensions and this is very unfair on residents, particularly at holiday times. The Council should give at least a week’s notice and there should be a limit on the number of bays that can be suspend in each street at any one time.”

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