Further disgust at Lib Dem Councillor!

I had only just published my previous post when another Harlow Conservative Councillor drew my attention to a previous email that Manny Doku wrote just a few days ago on the same subject.

I currently have a permit to park at the civic centre car park because I needed one. Without that 'perk', I may have to walk (and may be late for meetings as I do have other calls on my time), or take a taxi on every occasion and claim same from the council (which will add up to more than the cost of permit, perhaps).
Again we are not staff and, like some company directors ( and I am one), do have to have some form of 'special treatment' because of sacrifices they tend to make in some cases.
Thanks.
Manny.

It seems Cllr Doku likes his "perks" and considers being a Councillor makes him worthy of "special treatment"!

Perhaps Cllr Doku should be reminded, that it is a privilage to serve his community and that he already recieves an allowance for doing so. And afterall as he points out he is a "company director" as well, which I am sure remunerates him well too.....

Edited 00:12
For those that worry, like Cllr Doku, that he might be late if he walked to meetings, you may want to check a map. Cllr Doku's published address is CM18 6DN and the Civic Centre is CM20 1WG

Parking changes confirmed

Tonight I was a guest at the Environment and Community Committee.

There were a lot of people in the audience and it was a heated meeting; then again it always was going to be. Parking is an extremely emotive issue.

What made the situation worse, was the attitude and position of the opposition councillors.

When I led the opposition, if we opposed an issue we always offered a suggestion for what we would do instead, or how else we would solve the problem. I think that's the role of a responsible opposition and it gives the public a chance to know what your party "thinks" on issues.

Tonight we heard a lot about what the liberals don't like, a lot about what they are against, but nothing positive in it's place. No suggestions. No alternatives. Just abuse to the administration.

I shouldn't be surprised really; it's what they did on budget night too. Criticise but offer no alternative.

What the Conservative Councillors did tonight, was to explain in detail why we have the problems with car parking that we do, why enforcement is needed and what we did with the consultation responses received.

We listened. For the local shopping areas we suggested an hour of free parking. We suggested creating dedicated spaces for businesses and that their staff could have annual permits, for less than £1 a week. We have even started to create extra car parking for businesses in a disused council depot area.

Not everyone was happy, but not everyone ever was going to be on such an emotive subject, but we showed that we were willing to listen to people.

Anyone for Bowls?

An interesting visit last night to the Tye Green Indoor Bowls Club, which is one of the largest indoor bowls clubs in the country.



I went to meet them to talk about their concerns over the introduction of car parking charges for car parks in the area.



The club is lovely, and provides members with a bar and eating area and plenty of entertainment besides the bowls.



Whilst there was a good mix of ages in evidence, they admitted that the majority of their members were more mature, and had been worried by the consultation.



I was able to talk to them about and show them the details of the recommendation that is going to committee on the 17th which includes offering their members passes at less than a pound a week, like we are offering the shops in the area.



No one likes parking charges, but they understood all about falling income and rising prices, and understood why the council had to look at measures like these. By the time I left they were far happier about the situation than when I arrived.



A nice bunch of people and lovely to find out a bit about a sport, that as I admitted to them, I knew very little about. I might just pop back there sometime and learn a bit more about the game.

Parking Consultation

Monday afternoon was spent being fed back the results of the consultation into parking changes and charges that we have just conducted.

Now car parking is always an emotive subject to most people. And I admit sometimes I can be a bit dispassionate about these issues as a non driver, which is why when thinking about such items I always like to have other people to bounce ideas off. In this instance both my Deputy Leader Simon Carter and the Chairman of the Environment and Community Committee Eddie Johnson.

We had consulted originally on 20p for first half hour, but had said at the launch of the consultation that we ourselves favoured the first half hour being free. Having read the results of the consultation there is clearly the need for a period of time to be free or low cost, so that people are able to nip to their local shopping areas and buy a loaf of bread and some milk, grab lunch or put a bet on; all the sorts of things that people do at a local shopping areas. It was also clear that there were people who were abusing the parking at the moment, for whom steeper longer term parking charges are needed to dissuade them away from these parking areas.

So in the end we have settled on making the first hour free, which should enable any one to grab a few bits even if their mobility is severely restricted, and I hope people will be happy with. We have also suggested making the charge for between one and two hours parking 60p, with progressively steeper charges for over two hours.

I am sure not everyone will be happy but I don't think when you talk about car parking charges everyone ever is.

For me though its important that we have listened to the consultation.