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 Cllr Theo Blackwell
Cllr Mike Greene |
CLAMPING TO BE AXED
Town Hall change means parking penalty will stop
CAR clamping in Camden is to be brought to a sudden end following the change of power at the Town Hall.
New environment chief Conservative councillor Mike Greene has spent his first week in charge of the department setting a date for the unpopular parking penalty to be axed.
The move will be confirmed at a cabinet meeting on July 5 and is almost certain to come into immediate effect.
Parking contractors NCP said yesterday (Wednesday) that they would be flexible to the change in strategy, paving the way for the clamps to be put away. The new Lib Dem and Conservative alliance is hoping their swift action will convince residents they are serious about quickly implementing changes at the Town Hall. It is the first major switch in policy since last month’s elections.
Labour rivals – now on the opposition benches for the first time in three decades – warned the end of clamping would not be a quick fix to the borough’s parking problems and expectations were being unfairly raised.
One-time leaders of the Town Hall were even warning yesterday (Wednesday) that the alliance would struggle to balance the council books without the revenue generated by clamping – worth several hundred thousand pounds each year.
Significantly, the environment department has struggled to balance its books this year because parking bosses overestimated how much money would be made from penalties. Schemes such as the pavement improvement programme in Kentish Town have been put on ice due to the shortfall.
If further savings can’t be made in the environment department, the new cabinet may have to search for cuts elsewhere in the Town Hall budget to honour a separate manifesto pledge to freeze council tax next year.
Cllr Greene, who was locked in discussions with senior figures for four hours on Thursday, said: “It won’t be painless but the council has to be more efficient and if this means that money won’t be spent on major projects that nobody wants, like crazy humps in the roads then so be it.”
Labour has been put on the spot on several occasions over the last four years but each time refused to end clamping – despite researching it for two years as a possible change in strategy. In the meantime, driver protest groups have formed to campaign against heavy-handed parking policies.
Cllr Greene added: “If a car is parked in the wrong place or causing an obstruction, the last thing we want to do is put a clamp on it and leave it there for longer than it needs to be.”
Only repeat offenders who build up a long trail of unpaid parking tickets or disabled badge fraudsters will suffer clamping in the future.
Liberal Democrat and Town Hall leader Councillor Keith Moffitt said his side of the alliance was just as much behind the move.
He said: “We have been clear that the things we can do quickly, we want to do as soon as is practicably possible. Ending clamping was one of those things that both parties campaigned on.”
Nick Mavrides, who runs Ace Sports in Kentish Town and is a co-founder of the London Motorists Action Group supported by actor Tom Conti, said: “I’m absolutely delighted that they’ve moved towards a sensible decision – now that they’ve got rid of the Third Reich. Clamping does nothing to free up traffic – quite the reverse.”
But, despite the celebrations, there were warnings yesterday (Wednesday) from Labour members that the headline-grabbing election pledge could come back to haunt the new faces in charge.
Former Town Hall treasurer John Mills said: “The environment department’s finances are not in great shape as it. Clamping is about traffic not about raising money but the fact is there is a financial side to it and that money won’t be there for them to spend.”
Labour councillor Theo Blackwell added: “The Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives have unfairly raised expectations because ending clamping will not solve the problem of parking in Camden as a whole. This was just turned into an election issue.”
A spokesman for NCP said the changes could be implemented quickly. |
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