Parking Charges : Barnets Tories exposed as Unconservative !

There is a rather interesting article in todays Daily Express where Tory Local Government Chief Caroline Spelman hit out at Council Chiefs and pledged to  "Stop families and local shops being hit with aggressive parking fines, unfair parking charges and cuts to the number of peak parking spaces". Ms Spelman went on to say :-

Stressed out drivers now have to run a guantlet of unfair parking fines, soaring parking charges and a lack of parking spaces

Ms Spelman continued

Conservatives will call off Labours war on the motorist and work to provide more parking spaces to help small shops prosper in local high streets and assist mums struggling with their family shop

As I read this my jaw dropped to the floor. My first thought was "Does Ms Spelman live in Barnet?". As regular readers of this blog will know, Conservative Barnet Council makes more money from parking than any other local authority. Less than two weeks ago I was at a Leader Listens business breakfast with Councillor Andrew Harper, deputy Leader of Barnet Council. I suggested that introducing a "Free for an hour" parking scheme in Barnets Town Centres would be a massive boost for businesses, help hard pressed motorists and be environmentally friendly as people would use local shops more and make fewer trips to out of town shopping centres where there is free parking.

The suggestion was universally approved by all of the owners of small businesses who were present. What was Councillor Harpers response? He said that the Christmas Free after Three scheme had cost the council £100,000 in lost revenue and any changes would only be made if the council could afford it. That is the biggest problem with the Conservatives. Where they have no power they make fine promises. Where they can make a difference, they don't want to know. How on earth can you believe a single word Ms Spelman says about parking, when the Tories flagship, way of the future Easycouncil, which David Cameron was so keen to support with a visit to Hendon last year, are the worst offenders?

If you want to let Barnet Council know what you think about their "Parking Tax" (because in reality thats what it is), please sign this petition to allow shoppers in Mill Hill Broadway one hours free parking

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/support-free-parking-in-mill-hill-broadway.html

By the way, if you are wondering where Caroline Spelman got the idea for raising the issue of Parking Charges, you would be amazed how many times this blog has been viewed by Conservative Central Headquarters (CCHQ) in the last month. If Caroline Spelman or David Cameron really want to get hold of some decent policies for local Government, they are welcome to EMAIL ME BY CLICKING HERE and I'll send them a copy of the Mill Hill Lib Dem manifesto, which we've been working on. From what I've been hearing on the doorsteps, it seems to be rather popular round here. As to parkling charges, Id suggest that if the local Tories don't want to listen to me, then maybe they should listen to their own front bench spokesperson, who has been rather keen to nick my ideas.

******** Update **********
Alex Hayes from the Edgware Times emailed me to point out that Barnet Council doesn't collect the most money from parking charges. The title it holds is the largest increase in revenue collected from parking charges in the last year.  Is that any better? Make up your own mind

Cowardly Cameron takes the 5th on superdatabases

The last resort of crooks and cheats is the right to silence. Whilst it is a fundamental principle that no one should have to incriminate themselves, the rest of us can draw conclusions as to why they chose to say nothing.

On the 3rd February, a promenant local Conservative had a full page article in the Guardian, detailing amongst other things the benefits of "Superdatabases" linking health, police and local authority databases. I felt that this was a huge threat to our civil liberties and along with other comments about allocating gatekeepers to the families identified as the "300 most expensive to the Borough", I felt that it was a matter requiring urgent clarification at the highest levels of the Conservative party. As such I sent Mr David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party an email requesting clarification. Does he agree with the concept of local Authorities such as Barnet implementing "Superdatabases"? Does he agree with his own candidates comments?

The email was sent on the 3rd February. I have not received a reply from Mr Cameron. I have written to many MP's on many subjects over the years. I have always received a reply. You may say "Oh well, Cameron is busy, he hasn't got time to respond to every email". This is complete nonsense. Mr Cameron has an office, staffed up specifically so that he can reply. If it is a trivial matter it will be delegated to one of his staff. If it is a serious matter he should reply himself. If he thinks the email is frivalous, he would respond to say so. He has the whole of the Conservative Central Office apparatus to help him.

Well I still have no idea what Mr Cameron thinks of Superdatabases. What I do know is that he is quite clearly a cowardly man who ducks important questions. Does anyone really want a coward who cannot even comment on whether big brother databases are desirable or not running the country. I can only assume that Mr Cameron is fully supportive of his candidates position on this matter, but knows it won't wash with the more enlightened libertarian Conservatives who make up the backbone of his party.

If we end up with a Conservative Government and they introduce a big brother state, where Councils can take over your life because you cost them too much money, don't say I didn't warn you. Mind you, given Governments record with IT projects, it is more likely just to be a few more tens of billions of pounds down the drain, that is the only solace I can take.