EVERYONE knows that Westminster's parking operations are in a very poor state.
No matter whether you are a motorbiker faced with the only local council in the UK that charges for on-street parking, or a resident in St John's Wood or Queen's Park who is now competing for a parking space with casual visitors, or a motorist faced with a 33 per cent increase in parking charges in Marylebone, the story is one of anger.
On top of this, the council is now faced with an £850,000 bill and thousands of pounds more in lost income thanks to the failure to comply with Department of Transport regulations on the size of CCTV camera images.
Like everyone else, Labour councillors are fed up with Westminster City Council's parking policies and we are now launching a major inquiry.
We are setting up a parking forum and we are keen to hear from residents about what changes they would like to see. We also want residents to join the parking forum so that we can jointly put forward ideas for a Westminster parking regime that is just about practicalities of parking and not about raising as much money as possible for the council. Please send your ideas and suggestions to pdimoldenberg@hotmail.co.uk. Let me know, too, if you would like to join the parking forum.
COUNCILLOR PAUL DIMOLDENBERG Leader of the Labour Group
Westminster City Council City Hall, SW1E 6QP
