CCTV Car is just a Cash Cow

Residents Association spokesman for StreetCare and Parking, Cllr Andrew Mann has hit out over the amount of income the Councils new CCTV Smart Cars are making from issuing parking tickets by stealth across the Borough.

This Follows Havering’s Cabinet member for Parking (Cllr Barry Tebbutt) having to supply Cllr Mann with the breakdown of the amount of tickets issued since the car was introduced at a recent Full Council Meeting.

Mobile CCTV Parking Enforcement commenced on Tuesday 8th June 2007.

At the close of business on the 7th June 2008 (exactly 12 months since the cars started to operate) 26,837 CCTV Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) have been issued.

The total amount of tickets to be issued across the Borough since the cars started operating is 28,011

Cllr Mann said “The truth is finally out, the figures say it all, in the original report concerning the car, it was assumed they would only issue 2200 tickets a year, at an income of £80k. However, this is not the case, as they have been issuing that amount each month, with a much larger payment rate due to the photo evidence and have actually issued that amount in a month and issued over 26,000 tickets”

The worse place to be caught, is in Victoria Road, Romford, with over 8% of all tickets, with almost 1000 issued in this one street alone, second place in the top ten is Atlanta Blvd, Romford with 6% of all issued.

If the same payment rates were kept up throughout the year, then income could be well in excess of £1.7 million in a full year. The original report also suggested that the car would only be used around protecting school children at schools and on yellow zig zags and crossings.

Over 12 months ago, Cllr Mann warned about the possible future use of the covert cars and felt at the time they were introduced, caution should be taken and also warned that they should not be used as an income generator for the Council.

In a Town Hall press release dated 20/03/07, Conservative Cabinet Member Cllr Barry Tebbutt said “I have no problem with this car being used to target indiscriminate parking around schools and pedestrian crossings which poses a real danger to our children”. However, it would seem that this is not the case as there is no school or crossing near to these shops.

Cllr Mann said “It has now become quite clear that this car was only introduced to make money, it is just a cash cow, sucking the life out of our Town Centres, coupled with the new charges being introduced for smaller shopping centres such as Collier Row, Hornchurch, Upminster, Cranham, Elm Park and Rainham this Conservative Administration are going to kill of the smaller towns in Havering in favour of Romford Town Centre”

Breakdown of income and ticket numbers:

According to the answer at the last Full Council meeting (on 23rd July 2008), the total amount of tickets issued since 7th June 2007 and up to and including the 8th June 2008 comes to 26,837. That makes an average of just over 70 tickets a day, on 7 day week (which they work) and on 365 days a year that makes 25,513 tickets in a year.

So if we say that the average over the six months was 70 a day, I come up with the following income workings.

70 tickets issued, of that 90% are paid, 10% are lost due to bad DVLA data and non traceable.

90% of the daily average of 70 is 63 tickets issued that are paid.

Half are paid at discount 31.5 at £50 £ 1,575

Half are paid in full 31.5 at £100 £ 3,150

Total Income a day £ 4,725

Total Income a Week £ 33,075

Total Income a month £ 143,718

Times 365 days a year £1,724,625

That makes a grand total of £4,725 a day or £143,718 a month; these figures are worked out on only the first seven months issued. However, it does not take into consideration that each ticket issued was at the lower amount.

For example, I have worked each ticket out at the lower band of £100; however any ticket issued within the Romford Ring Road is £120 and £60 at discount. The sums could in fact be quite a bit higher, as I know for example; Atlanta Boulevard is the highest ticketed location in the Borough, which is inside the Ring Road.

With the above sum of £143,718 a month, this makes a grand total of £1,724,625 a year, or in simple terms £1.7m a year of parking tax being taken form Havering residents.

Homes in Havering Farce

Following the pay of of Homes in Havering Chief Executive last week, Havering Park Councillor, Andrew Mann has hit out at the Board Chairman and Cabinet Member for Housing, Conservative Councillors Curtin and Armstrong.

Councillor Mann has condemned the latest situation at homes in Havering to be an absolute farce, he has hit out at the pay off of the Chief Executive of Homes in Havering as outrageous and a crass waste of public money, that we the taxpayer will all have to pick up.
Cllr Mann said “How the Chairman of the board at HiH could even think about paying of someone who wanted to leave the organisation a whole year’s salary is beyond contempt, he should hang his head in shame and resign from the board immediately, he is playing foot loose with public money, whilst Council tenants strive to pay increased rent and charges, he is dishing out £87,000 like confetti”

He also criticised the involvement of Housing Cabinet Member, Cllr Michael Armstrong, Cllr Mann said, “He (Cllr Armstrong) should hang his head in shame along side his colleague Cllr Curtin, he has implemented charges to Council tenants and lease holders that are wholly unjustified and unnecessary, such as CCTV, cleaning and fly tip removal to name but a few”.

After reading HiH documents that Cllr Mann has obtained, he said “There is clear evidence to suggest what we have known all along, that these charges were actually a ruse to bring in extra cash for HiH and not about improving service delivery at all”.

Cllr Mann has also raised issues around the relationship of a Cabinet member being on the Board of HiH, let along the Chairman. He said “How can Cllr Curtin and Armstrong work independently of each other when they are both in the Cabinet together, it is clear that both of these Councillors are joined at the hip and decisions are being agreed between them and not in the interest of the residents of this Borough, this needs to be looked at by the Leader of the Council”.

Cllr Mann went on “Perhaps as we look for a new Chief Executive of HiH, it may be a good idea for the Board to look for a new Chairman”.

Another New Road Surface for the Village

The long running saga of the road condition in Wellingtonia and Elmer Avenue’s in Havering Village looks set to be resolved again, later this month, with the laying of tarmac over the work that was carried out last year at a cost of approx £30,000.

The new work is being carried out, due to a huge dust problem that was created by the type of surface dressing used. Every time, the sun came out the surface dried off and a fine dust was thrown up into the air, causing a huge health issue and covering the resident’s cars and homes in a fine powder. No cost has been placed on the new work yet.

Cllr Mann set up a meeting with residents some 6 months ago to discuss the problems of the badly neglected roads, work was then carried out by StreetCare to replace the old road surface, which over the years had become badly neglected and was in need of major works to level the road and to remove all of the holes.

The problem with the road has been the reluctance of Havering Council to acknowledge that it has to deal with the road, although it is a private road and not an adopted highway (like almost all of the roads in the Borough) the owners of the said private road, or actually Havering Council.

As land owners, the Council owns many roads in the Borough and in particular all of the approach roads to Havering Country Park, including Wellingtonia Avenue, Elmer Avenue, Pinewood Road, Kilnwood Lane and Clockhouse Lane (by the Pinewoods Pub).

They where all compulsory purchased by the former Greater London Council in 1982 when the Country Park was formed; the idea was to protect the park from the ingress of new buildings and as the Park is land-locked, would safe guard any unauthorised development on and around its entrance.

Cllr Mann said, "I have been involved with the residents in trying to get the Council to take its responsibilities seriously and to resurface the roads around the Country park for almost 4 years, after hitting my head on a brick wall for a lot of that time, I finally enlisted the help of the former Chief Executive of Havering (Stephen Evans, now retired) to push this along, to his credit he did start getting officers to deal with this situation before he retired.

However, it took the threat of Court Action under the Highways Act 1980 to get it going, I am just glad at long last the residents have got some justice for their campaign, all that leaves now is for the Council to start working out how it will deal with the other roads in Havering Park Ward that are privately owned by the Council and need repairing".

The New work is set to start in the next two weeks and involves the existing surface in Elmer Avenue being converted to tarmac, leaving a narrow drainage strip of 0.85m either side of the tarmac. In Wellingtonia Avenue, the area from Bower Farm Road to the park gates will be converted to tarmac leaving natural drainage where the grass strip runs along the frontage of the properties and to the side of the community hall which was previously untouched..

Cllr Mann said “Let us hope that this time the work actually improves the roads in the village, this has gone on long enough and our residents deserve better then this, they have suffered for many years”

Latest Summer Newsletter Delivered

The latest issue of the Collier Row & Mawneys Residents Association newsletter has recently been delivered to over 11,000 homes and shops across North Romford, which includes both havering park and Mawneys Wards.

You can read all about what we have been up to in the Community, updates on such issues as New CCTV cameras installed for Collier Row, Car Parking fees for Collier Row, latest news on the CCTV car, Hampden Lodge Planning Application, for 58 flats, new bus service for the Village, Gobions Avenue Post Office closure, dog mess farce ! and much more

If you have not received a copy, please drop us a line, either by phone, e-mail or pen and paper, contact details at top of the page.

Gallows Corner Nighmare Continues

Residents Association Councillor, Andrew Mann (Havering Park) has learnt of plans by Transport for London to open the flyover this week, but only one way ! And it may take over a year to re-open fully, if ever.

The planned re-opening of the flyover was originally set for 2nd June; this was delayed until 28th July because an inspection had identified the need for further works. However, it has now been discovered by engineers that even more work is required, involving the steel-railed safety barriers on the flyover, as they are unsafe and will require new barriers to be installed.

However, this work can not be completed with a two way traffic flow and from next Monday (28th July), the flyover will operate in only the London Bound (Westward) direction for the foreseeable future. It can not be confirmed at the moment how long this situation will prevail, it has been suggested it could be well over 12 months, but maybe even longer.

Cllr Mann said “This situation is going from bad to worse, the flyover has already been closed for months causing misery to local residents and commuters, I find it unbelievable in this day and age, that engineers could not have surveyed the structure in more detail before they started the works”.

However, Cllr Mann is now worried about the future of the flyover he said “We all know that this flyover was moved form another location and installed over 35 years ago as a temporary structure, for years it has been allowed to sit and rot with no major maintenance work on it, TfL have failed to look after it properly until it is to late”.

He went on, it has been suggested to me by a reliable source that the flyover works set to take 12 months might be delayed even longer, as when they start on the new barriers, it may well unearth even more rust and damage that will make it unsafe for ever and nothing but scrap metal, to that end I will be writing to Mayor of London Boris Johnson and TfL Head, Peter Hendy, asking them both to set out precise plans for the re-opening of the flyover in both directions as a matter of urgency”

Bower Park School - Bower Factor

Cllr Mann was at Bower Park School yesterday, on the last day of term for its annual “Bower Factor” event, this year being the 4th annual show, based on the hugely popular X Factor format, children from years 7 to 10 compete in a show of dance, song, gymnastics and comedy to win the event. The event is judges in the same way as the T.V programme, with three teachers taking to the judge’s panel, with one playing the nice guy, one Mr Nasty and the last down the middle. It is broken down in to two age ranges, year 7 and 8 and year 9 and 10.

The show always brings out the best in the pupils and having watched some of the same pupils perform over the last 2 to 3 years, it is nice to see them improve in what they are doing. Over 100 children took part, watched by the rest of the year groups.

The event is always one of the big highlights of the year and makes for a great day, on the last day of term. I for one can not wait until next year when we hold the 5th annual show, lets hope it is bigger and better than ever before.

Residents Drop in Surgery

Our latest Residents drop in surgery is being held this Saturday, the 19th July at our usual location of the Forest Row Centre in Lodge Lane, Collier Row, between 10.00 and 11.00, all you have to do is drop in, no need for an appointment.

Our Residents Association Councillor for Havering Park, Andrew Mann will be on hand along with Mawneys team members Graham & Joe Webster and Havering Park member, Denis Stevens to help with any issues you may have about havering Council, such as Housing, StreetCare, Council Tax, Education or any other matter that you may need help with.

If you can not make the surgery, you can always phone us for an appointment at a different time or drop us an e-mail or letter, contact details on the right hand column.

Friends of Havering Country park

Cllr Mann was in attendance at the latest “Friends of Havering County Park” meeting held last Thursday evening; over 20 residents came along to have their say about the latest goings on in the park and to hear from parks officers the latest updates on work being carried out by the Council.

There was some disappointment that capital works planned have been very slow in being started, such as the new fencing along St Johns Road and new bins for litter and dog waste still to be placed in the park.

Cllr Mann said “The friends group have done a fantastic amount of work over the last 12 months in highlighting the issues facing local people; however the Council need to do more to support them in their aims, taking over 12 months to allocate and spend money on the park is not good enough”

The next meeting is being held on Thursday the 7th August at the North Romford Community Centre in Clockhouse Lane, just turn up, the meeting starts at 7.30pm. For more information about the group, you can e-mail them on fohcpg@googlemail.com

Hampden Lodge Planning Application Withdrawn

P0713.08 – Demolition of existing care home and construction of three residential buildings extending to three to four stories in height, to provide 58 residential units (6x studio, 17x 1 bed, 32 x 2 bed and 3 x 3 bed flats), with 58 car parking spaces.

Havering Council have this week announced that Bellway Homes, have withdrawn their planning application to demolish the former Care Home, Hampden Lodge and to build 58 flats on the site. It is understood that the plans were to be refused by the Councils planning department.

Cllr Andrew Mann (Havering Park Res Assoc) said “The Collier Row & Mawneys Residents Association was very concerned about this application. Hundreds of residents contacted us by e-mail or letter to object to this scheme and over 1000 people signed petitions, largely with concerns about the size and bulk of the development, lack of parking and amenity space, along with the traffic implications in Clockhouse Lane”.

Over 100 people recently turned out for a demonstration against the plans on the site.

Residents Association Action Member, Denis Stevens said “This was a big housing development for Collier Row and we feel disappointed that neither the Council nor the developers had the decency to speak with the local residents or local Councillors before making the application; it has caused a lot of upset in the community, not least because the Council will only receive the money once contracts have been exchanged, on condition of receiving planning permission”.

Sadly, by withdrawing the scheme, the developer has the opportunity to make a fresh planning application, free of charge to Havering in the next few months for a slightly modified scheme, so the plans to build on this site have not gone away

The Residents Association would like to thank the hundreds of people who wrote and e-mailed objections and to more than 1,000 who signed petitions. We are also grateful to the one hundred plus people who turned out for a demonstration against the plans. The hard work put in by many residents has been a great help in highlighting the issues about this application.

New 375 Bus starts service in Havering Village

Cllr Andrew Mann has been campaigning for a better bus service in the village, since he was first elected in 2002. Something the previous Mayor of London and Transport for London has constantly refused to consider. However, TfL and the Mayor have now been forced into dealing with this situation as hundreds of people would have been literally cut off from the outside world after Arriva Buses recently scrapped the 500 service. Cllr Mann wrote to both TFL and the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, objecting and to ask that the very serious issue of no bus service to and fro the village be looked at as a matter of some urgency.

TfL recently announced a new service that was introduced this week, on Monday 7th July to replace the old 500 bus. The service will operate from Monday to Saturday (no Sunday service) from 07.00 to 19.00 on a 90 min frequency from Romford Station to Passingford Bridge, where the bus will turn and then run back to Romford.

Cllr Andy Mann was on hand this week, as the new service picked up its first passengers at the Village Green in Havering-Atte-Bower, where he had the opportunity to talk to residents about the new service.

Havering Park Councillor, Andrew Mann said “I am glad that the Mayor and TfL have listened to the residents of the village about this very serious issue, hundreds of residents would have been cut of from basic daily chores such as shopping, work and medical appointments, whilst the service is only every 90 minutes, it is far better than the other option of nothing, I am pleased that the Residents Association on behalf of the residents in the Village has played a part in bringing this new service into our area”

Denis Stevens from the Residents Association said “We know this new service is not 100% perfect as it is only 90 minutes, has no Sunday service and will not go out into Essex; all of these issues were raised by residents to us. However, Tfl have assured Cllr Mann, that once the service is up and running, they will be open to consider changes and improvements if we can increase passenger numbers, so all is not lost on these issues”

This will be good news for the thousands of visitors each year to both the St. Francis Hospice Centre and the Essex Wildlife Trust visitors centre in Bedford’s Park, they would have found the traveling almost impossible if they do not happen to drive a car.