Another Car Park U Turn by Council

Following the decision by the Leader of the Council this week, to change some of the car park charges around the borough, the Residents Association has suggested it is no more than smoke and mirrors and proved that they were wrong all along.

The Administration have kept the 20p charge, for 2 hours, but lowered the charge for 3 hours to 50p, however they have kept all of the higher charges and will not consider scrapping them altogether. They will also stop charging for Sundays in Romford.

Residents Association Spokesman for Parking, Cllr Andrew Mann said “We have been telling the Administration for almost a year that their car parking strategy was wrong, this is now the second time that we have forced them to make changes to it, first we won the battle for Sunday charges in outlying car parks, and now we have forced them to change the charges for Romford on a Sunday”.

He went on “The fact that not one of the private car parks were charging for Sundays, has had any bearing on this, and you only paid in a Havering controlled car park, the Administration have yet again got it wrong”. The Leader of the Council has suggested that he has listened to people, however why did he not listen to all those 20,000 plus people who objected before he brought the charges in to the Borough”

When the Council announced its new Parking Strategy for the Borough last year, the Residents Association launched a Borough Wide campaign against it; over 20,000 residents signed the petitions that were presented to the Mayor last year.

Leader of the Residents Group on Havering Council, Cllr Clarence Barrett said “I am pleased that once again the Administration have been forced into an embarrassing climb down on one of their policies, I have said time and time again, that they should be consulting more with other Councillors in the Town Hall and more importantly, listening to their residents concerns, over 20,000 people, said they did not want charges, however they ploughed ahead anyway and are now being forced to make changes as they go along”

Cllr Mann said “It is a sorry state of affairs, this whole parking strategy of the Administration has been a farce from day one, with the CCTV car issuing over 24,000 tickets a year, instead of the projected 2,200, is it any wonder that the Council can reduce the fee to 50p having made something like an estimate £1.7 million out of the car alone in almost 12 months”