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| Helen Michael with Barnet Traders |
Open Letter to Councillor Richard Cornelius, Leader of Barnet Council from Helen Michael, on behalf of the Barnet Traders.
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Dear Councillor Cornelius
20th
April 2012
Re
Parking Issue
Further to our meeting and subsequent
business forum meeting last week, I have been approached by a large majority of
traders from Barnet and North Finchley town centers and residents with some
very strong views which I thought I should convey to you.
These cover most of what we discussed, as
follows;
Aldi and Sainsbury’s offer 1 hour free
parking and the cost is £1.00 per hour thereafter. The pay and display meters
are still being used and work perfectly well. These car parks are oversubscribed
yet the Council’s 5 car parks in North Finchley are in the main empty for most
of the day. The Spires car park is virtually full, yet the Council car park in
Barnet Town Centre is empty. Charges in the Spires are £1.00 per hour. The car parks are full in North Finchley on
Sundays when they are free (and no, this is not an invitation for the Council
to start charging on Sunday)
The High Streets’ have empty bays for large
parts of the day which used to be full.
The turnover of cars was 7-8 times per day on average, before the
Councils parking regime was introduced. If someone wants to pull over for a
newspaper or a pint of milk, even a prescription from a chemist, they incur a
penalty charge notice as the traffic wardens are waiting in the wings to pounce
on anyone who is naive enough to want to
pull over for 2 or 3 minutes and pick something up. Your current system does not allow for this. There are only two pay points in each of
the town centers, but no one knows where they are, and of course there is the
issue of leaving ones vehicle unattended in order to get the voucher.
I often witness traffic Wardens hiding in
shop doorways ready to pounce invariably having already written the ticket,
ready to be placed on the windscreen of the offending vehicle immediately the
driver turns his back.
People tend not to come back to the high
road if they have a bad experience or find it less then straight forward to
park.
The Councils argument that the charges
cannot be reduced as this will in turn reduce the Councils revenue does not
stack up. These car parks are empty for most of the day producing very little
revenue. There is not the turnover on
the bays there once was.
The on street parking is not user friendly
to anyone, as we discussed. We have a large aging population. 40% of our elderly population doesn’t have a
mobile phone and even if they did most are audio challenged. The instructions
are long winded and not easy to follow. One lady approached me to tell me that she has
a wheelchair and cannot see the signs even if she wanted to pay by phone to
park.
There is also of course the security
aspect. Standing in the street with a
credit card and mobile phone, whatever age you are, is hardly to be encouraged
never mind if you are elderly, a mother with her children or female. People often distracted by the instructions
and the request for information are a prime target for criminals, which I am
sure will increase as the area is used less and becomes more run down.You already know that the incidence of
mobile phone theft in the area has increased dramatically.
In these difficult times with the worse
trading conditions on the high street in living memory, where is the logic in
increasing parking charges to an eye watering level for shoppers, who can park
for free in the abundance of car parks supplied by Tesco, Brent Cross and the
like, from a council who maintains it wishes to support the High Street and
small local businesses.
As a business man I am sure you are aware
that the cost of doing business is increasing dramatically, for most retailers
big and small turn-over is going down.
Speaking from a personal point of view I know the cost of my products
have increased by on average 40% a cost that I cannot pass onto my customers. Turn-over
has also gone down which means I am absorbing these increases. Of course business rates have also gone up.
You will also recall that I advised you of
the number of businesses closed in Barnet and North Finchley since your parking
regime was introduced. Not only has this
impacted on employment in the area those traders still open for business are
reducing their staffing levels, again, having a negative impact on employment
in the area. You were kind enough to
tell me that the council were also cutting back on staff but alternative jobs
were being found We are not so fortunate
in the private sector.
I also advised you that shops were not
being re-let once empty, a point reiterated by Simon Gerrard of Martin Gerrard
Estate Agents, who attended the meeting last week and informed the panel that
the feedback from landlords confirmed this.
You will recall at our meeting I advised
you the bay along the High Road, outside WH Smith has two location numbers and
often drivers get caught out not understanding which is the correct bay number,
yet there is no proper signage nor indeed any indication that within a space of
a few inches there is a difference. I
note no action has been taken to rectify this, two weeks on, yet when the
signage was vandalized recently it was replaced immediately. Call me cynical but this suggests to there is
a lack of will to correct the wrongs.
At the meeting last week we were advised of
the route of the Olympic torch and that the traders were expected/invited to
come on board in order to make the borough look good. Whilst most of the traders are happy to do
this there is the general view that unless there is a positive outcome to the
parking issues they will be using the Olympic procession as a platform to
highlight their plight.
Local people are going to be invited to
line the streets and support the event, which we all think is great, however, I,
and the other traders were amazed to be told that the parking restrictions will
remain in force throughout, on this day and in fact many traders believe that
this will be open season for the traffic wardens to be out in force. I refer to party in the park in Mill Hill
where parking tickets were issued on a Sunday whilst a community event was
taking place!
Most Traders and residents I have spoken to
feel that because we agreed to take action after the Mayoral elections you are
effectively palming me off and have very little faith that you will actually
take significant action on the parking issue.
I have recently visited and carried out
research in Whetstone and Finchley Central, both a mile from North
Finchley. There are very few parking
restrictions in Whetstone and unless one chooses to park on the main road, the
parking restrictions on the side roads around Finchley Central are only an hour
a day. Why is this? I am sure that you have noticed these areas
have regenerated recently whilst North Finchley and Barnet are in serious
decline.
I would therefore suggest the following
1. Half an hour free parking
2. £1 per hour thereafter
3. Scratchcards to be made available to buy in bulk to the shop keepers at a discounted rate so they can be sold on to shoppers
4. An advertising campaign to advise locals that our Council is listening and inviting people back to the High Street
5. An amnesty for at least part of the day when the Olympic torch is carried through the borough
I would like your comments on the Federation of Small Business
parking policy and what you intend to do to bring Barnet in line with these
recommendations. You talked about some changes and for all
concerned let’s make these significant.
I am happy to meet with you and discuss
these issues at any time, please feel free to call me.
Kind regards.
Yours sincerely
Helen Michael
For
and on behalf of the Traders of The London Borough Of Barnet
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Helen Michael has sent this letter on behalf of Barnet Traders. The Barnet Eye is always pleased to publish guest blogs and other community related information. Send via the email link at the top of the right hand column
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