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Camden News - by RICHARD OSLEY
Published: 20 November 2008

‘Boost income’ from parking

Memo called for caution over permits

A SECRET memo reveals how parking chiefs were ordered to find new ways “to boost income” amid fears that a hike in the price of roadside permits would prove unpopular.
Senior figures in Camden’s environment department were warned as long ago as April that the dramatic 267 per cent jump in the price of builders’ passes would be hard for residents to stomach and risked “reputational damage”.
The increase, finally introduced over the summer, has sparked dozens of complaints and angry calls for the charges to be reversed.
Former environment supremo Mike Greene, who quit the council when he moved to Bournemouth in July, predicted the outcry. His call for caution was relayed to staff in a memo written by the department’s assistant director Robert Scourfield, leaked to the New Journal this week.
The briefing said: “Mike Greene is pushing extremely strongly to find an alternative option to the Builders Permit issue.
“His view is that we are extremely unlikely to achieve anything like the full income here, apart from the reputational damage. Politically, he considers that this will unravel all the work done so far to make the parking regime more proportionate.”
The briefing, sent on April 18, was addressed to former parking manager Rudy Bright but there was a wider list of recipients, including department head Rachel Stopard.
It said: “Are there any alternatives to boost income elsewhere to compensate? He [Mike Greene] is asking for some urgent work to be done to the scope this.”
Emergence of the memo is the latest blow to the council’s attempts assure motorists that an ongoing internal inquiry into levels of income is not rooted in an aim to squeeze more money out of motorists. Around £4million is missing from the council’s coffers because of a shortfall in the tickets issued.
A council spokeswoman said yesterday: “This isn’t about boosting income, it’s about balancing a budget which we have a responsibility to do.
“Therefore, in order to ensure a balanced budget we have to understand the implications of any in-year changes. Failure to do this simply increases pressure on council tax or reduces unrelated expenditure elsewhere in the council’s budget.”

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