News: Parking charges look set to be driven up

Published: 29 January 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM

CITY Hall has been accused of using parking enforcement to raise revenue after it announced plans to increase charges.
Westminster motorists could face a £7.3million bill  in what critics say is a cynical move to fill the £22m black hole in the council’s books.
The proposals include doubling the cost of meter charges in St John’s Wood and scrapping free parking on single yellow lines after 6.30pm.
City Hall parking boss Councillor Danny Chalkley, who has become a hate figure for motorists in recent months following a tide of negative publicity for his parking operation, insisted the charges were nothing more than a strategy to tackle congestion.
Cllr Chalkley said: “It’s not correct that we are doing this to raise revenue; we are doing this to keep streets running freely.”
But notes from an internal council briefing, seen by the West End Extra, state that parking was the “key driver” behind the council’s bid to recuperate the lost millions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash it invested in Icelandic banks.
The report said: “Officers were asked to go away and look more closely at parking and community safety to find reductions or additional income. The areas of parking and community safety have been earmarked to contribute the majority of the £14m.”
Parking campaigner Barrie Segal, who lives in Pimlico, said: “I find it truly astonishing that Westminster would set down in writing that it knows revenue can only be raised from parking if it is ‘incidental’ – then cynically nudge-nudge wink-wink they come out with a load of extra charges and say it is because of congestion.”
Westminster makes more from parking than any other local authority in London, raking in a record £35m last year. 
Using parking to raise revenue is illegal, following a 1995 High Court judgment, but councils are allowed to make money if it is incidental to other reasons, such as restricting traffic.
Leader of the Labour group Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg said: “These figures are truly shocking and show how Westminster residents are again being used as a ‘cashpoint’ to fill the deep hole in the council’s finances. In 2008 Westminster Conservatives invested £17m in now-failed Icelandic banks and now, two years later in 2010, Westminster residents are picking up the bill for this financial incompetence.”
Over the past year City Hall’s parking operation has become a lightning rod to motorists, sparked by allegations from its own wardens of illegal ticket targets that culminated in the announcement of an unprecedented inquiry that will start next month.
Kevin Goad, Westminster’s head of commissioning for city management, said: “A number of other local authorities in areas far less congested than ours already have extended parking controls, but we are listening to the views made by all those who would be affected and will consult fully on what are currently just proposals.
“It would be remiss for the council not to take into account the full impact of any potential changes to any of its policies. 
“We constantly try to balance the competing interests of businesses, visitors, residents and motorists across the city, and our final decision will be made in a manner which is totally transparent and open to scrutiny.”
A decision will not be made until the end of the year.