Salisbury Road Car Park will remain free.
Following the proposal to instal pay and display machines in the free Salisbury Road Car Park, your Ward Councillors are pleased to announce that Council officers have changed their minds and are recommending the Cabinet reverse the decision.
This follows a very clear call from Ward Councillors backed up by a petition signed by 440 people and the Councils own survey, which confirmed what Ward Councillors and residents were saying. Our reasons were clear:
1. We did not feel the car park was being abused by the overwhelming majority of users. There was abuse by one or two selfish individuals (one of which in my opinion is abusing the use of a disable badge)
2. We do not want elderly residents and parents with sick children visiting the Chemist, Dentist or Doctor fumbling about trying to find change to feed a meter. (One resident described this as taxing the sick)
3. If charging were introduced - cars would park in residential roads close by and cause problems there.
As we approach elections in the Borough - this serves to demonstrate one of the important roles Ward Councillors take on - standing up for residents, even if it sometimes makes us unpopular with colleagues. Or simply put:
We asked - you said - we listened and took action.
Together we are making a difference
1 comment:
Salisbury road car park
If no consultation took place, no studies on the impact on the people using the surgery, dentist and pharmacy which the car park serves, then the parking scheme was unlawful.
A survey by the council should have taken place BEFORE the scheme was implemented, not after the ticket machine was installed.
When was the machine purchased?
If the scheme was unlawful, then that was grounds to quash the scheme, ie remove the ticket machine.
If the scheme was unlawful, then the council was committing a criminal offence to levy charges and could face criminal prosecution.
The council in Leeds is currently under criminal investigation for obtaining money from an unlawful scheme.
If the scheme was unlawful, then council money was being spent on purposes for which the council had no authority. A matter for the District Auditor.
A councillor promoting an unlawful scheme brought the council and his office into disrepute. A matter for the Standards Board for England.
For the council to be involved in unlawful activity, a clear case of maladministration if not criminal activity. A matter for the Local Authority Ombudsman.
In North Camp a car parking scheme was introduced. There was no consultation, no studies carried out of the impact it would have on traders, the impact the displaced parking would have on neighbouring streets. The scheme was thus unlawful. The markings in the street do not comply with regulations, neither do the signs. The parking restrictions thus unenforceable.
During Farnborough International Airshow 2008, unlawful signs were erected in streets near the airfield. Apart from the fact the signs were unlawful and thus unenforceable, the only impact was to displace the nuisance parking into neighbouring streets that lacked the signs.
Reference
Regina v Camden London Borough Council (1995) {Primrose Hill ruling}
North Camp traders suffer (2008)
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