West End Extra - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Published: 4 July 2008
Time to tackle overcharging
• FOR how much longer are Westminster Conservatives going to be allowed to overcharge local residents for basic services? The recent decision of the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to order CityWest Homes to pay back £600,000 to Blandford estate leaseholders is the latest in a run of independent rulings.
Now residents on the Warwick estate are contesting the £58,000 bills they have been presented with by the Conservatives and Warwick Square residents in Pimlico are claiming that the £15,000 bills are far too high.
At the same time over 3,000 residents in Pimlico were overcharged by £1 million for excessive electricity and gas charges and the Conservatives have been forced to pay back residents for this disgraceful behaviour by the council.
And when it comes to the most trivial of parking “offences”, Westminster’s CCTV “spy cameras” will send residents a bill quicker than you can say Shirley Porter.
Whether it is basic greed or straightforward incompetence, there needs to be a full scale independent inquiry into why Westminster Conservatives overcharge residents time and time again. CLLR PAUL DIMOLDENBERG
Leader of the Labour Group
City Hall, SW1
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