News from Westminster Labour

Westmister Labour and others question Cameron over bike parking tax

Westminster Labour councillors have stepped up their opposition to a proposed motorcycle parking tax writing letters to all local Conservative councillors and the Leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron.

The letter to Westminster’s Conservative councillors reads:

The “No to the Bike Parking Tax” is an action group formed 4 months ago to reverse the introduction of the increasingly unpopular motorcycle parking tax.

You will note by this document you are listed as a co-recipient of a letter sent today to David Cameron, George Osborne, Eric Pickles and Teresa Villiers. The letter raises a number of issues regarding the introduction of the motorcycle parking tax in City of Westminster, primarily seeking clarification as to whether this sort of stealth-taxing by local Government, under the Conservative banner, is inline with the main Party’s policy.

Should, as we expect, the answer be negative, we have requested further clarification as to whether Senior Party Member Eric Pickles MP suggestion that local Councillors who act in this manner should be ejected from the Party be invoked against all the Conservative Westminster Councillors who either proposed, scrutinised or backed this stealth-tax.

As we are sure this will raise issues that you may like to address we would like to hearby invite you and your fellow Councillors to our next private “No to the Bike Parking Tax” committee meeting. Which will be held on:

Date: Wednesday, 16th December 2008, 6pm
Location: 2nd Floor, 1 Alfred Place, London, WC1E 7EB

We wish to offer Councillor Chalkley and members of the the “Built Environment Policy and Scrutiny Committee” an opportunity to defend the introduction of the unpopular motorcycle parking tax and to discuss possible ways forward. As a fellow Councillor, and thus equally responsible for all Council policy, I feel sure that you will want to have your opinion represented at such a meeting.

We would be very grateful if you could respond to this invitation as we need to make arrangements regarding the meeting venue.

Thank you very much for your consideration and we look forward to seeing you next week.

Warren Djanogly
Chairman of “No to the Bike Parking Tax” – www.notobikeparkingtax.com.

The letter sent to Conservative Leader, David Cameron, reads:

Dear Mr. Cameron,

We, the undersigned, request a formal statement from the Conservative Party in relation to an urgent matter that appears to be at odds with your stated policies.

On 4 August 2008, the richest Conservative-controlled Council in the UK, Westminster City Council (WCC), upheld the initiative of its “Cabinet Member for Environment & Transport” Conservative Councillor Danny Chalkley by introducing parking charges for motorcycles, contrary to:-

1) The Conservative Mayor of London’s policies which aim to ease restrictions on the use of bus lanes by motorbikes and make the city more accessible for motorbikes

2) The statement by the All Party Parliamentary Motorcycle Group (including Conservative members Michael Fabricant MP, Dr Julian Lewis MP, Lord Jopling, Lord Astor of Hever, Bill Wiggin MP and Lord Rotherwick) on 10 January 2005, which says “it is obvious that biking needs to be included as a serious and major part of the Government’s approach to congestion and pollution.”

3) The motorcycle friendly policies enacted by the Labour Government since 1999

4) The recommendations of the Government-backed, and TUC/CBI/TFL/BCC supported Work Wise Organisation who suggest switching from 4 wheels to two, citing “biggest savings available in Central London”.

As there are no mid to long-term transport benefits, and with the absence of any stated beneficiaries of the funds amassed, we cannot view this as anything but a stealth tax, and you will see from our website our association with a growing number of other bodies in opposing this move, such as the Tax Payers’ Alliance and the British Motorcyclists’ Federation to name two.

Cllr. Chalkley reported to the WCC Scrutiny Committee that, following “consultation” with Motorcycle Groups, the Parking Tax was to recoup a budgeted cost of £985k for improvements to security and the increase in size and number of the bays available. Our concerns are that the negative findings of this “consultation” were never made known, and in fact the total spend on “security & increasing bays” amounted to only £23k, with a further £220k being spent on instructions for how to pay the tax. Whether you consider the actual or the budget figures, surely the recent investment of £3.4m from Mayor Johnson and the TFL Treasury for “transport initiatives” could, and should be used to recoup any expenditure on motorcycle parking, thereby negating any justification for charging.

Exacerbating our concern that this is a stealth tax is Cllr Chalkley having revised the application of the fees from “Mon-Fri” to a “Mon-Sat” tax, thereby targeting the “key” and hour-rate workers, who tend to be the only people who need to be in Westminster on a Saturday.

We would therefore request a clear and unambiguous clarification from you in relation to Conservative Party Policy as follows:

Is this “motorcycling-deterrent” policy actively encouraged by the Conservative Party?

Is the introduction of this type of local, stealth tax something that we should expect from a future Conservative Government?

Are you concerned that this policy, promoted by a Conservative Councillor, appears to be at odds with the findings of the elected members and respected peers from the All Party Parliamentary Group, and the congestion & pollution solutions encouraged by the Mayor?

If this is not your party policy, now that you are aware of its promotion by Cllr. Chalkley, can we be assured of your requesting him to withdraw the charges immediately?

With this tax’s obvious similarities to the “bin tax”, (the publicised stealth-tax attacked by Conservative MP for Brentwood and Ongar, Eric Pickles, as being against Conservative Party policies) can we expect that Cllr. Chalkley will, as Mr Pickles suggested, be ejected immediately from the Conservative Party, together with the suspension from the Party of all other WCC Councillors who actively scrutinized this policy?

We would like it noted that we are arranging with a number of representatives from our supporting organizations to assemble outside the offices of the Conservative Party at Millbank Tower on the 15th January 2009 at 13:45 with the specific expectation to hear your response.

If you would like to meet any of us in advance of 15 January, or require any further information, please don’t hesitate to contact us via our chairman Warren Djanogly at the number and email address detailed above.

Sincerely,

Warren Djanogly
Chairman – No To Bike Parking Fees

Anna Zee
British Motorcycle Federation

Jane Chisholm
Motorcycle Action Group

Matthew Elliott
Tax Payers’ Alliance

Peter Roberts
Drivers’ Alliance

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