The Friday Joke 27/3/2015 - Matthew Offord MP tells a cracker

I've never seen a bigger joke than this pariamentary question from Matthew Offord MP

Matthew Offord Conservative, Hendon 25th March 2015

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's announcement, Government delivers on parking promises to help local shops, published on 6 March 2015, if he will take further steps to ensure that local authority parking schemes are more advantageous to motorists.


After five years in office, Offord emerges from his slumbers ask what the government is doing about dodgy parking regimes. Where has Offord been over the last five years? In Barnet, his chums on Barnet Council have done the following (and remember that Offord was the Deputy Leader of the Council before he became an MP in 2010).

* Hiked the cost of parking in the High Street
* Scrapped coin operated pay and display machines, forcing drivers to use a phone based system that takes up to 20 minutes to register (when you migh just want to pop in to a shop for a pint of milk)
* Used parking charges as a cash cow (millions of council in the special parking account)
* Employed a firm of private parking contractors to ruthlessly enforce the parking regime, with no regard to peoples circumstances, born out by the near 100% success rate of my fellow blogger Mr Mustard in helping people appeal them
* Illegally imposed a massive hike in CPZ parking costs, which was only struck out by the High Court, when residents had to sue the council to reverse it.

 On Tuesday I attended the FSB North London business hustings and North Finchley Traders representative Helen Michael had this to say to the various candidates . She explained that she'd represented traders of North Finchley. In 5 years they'd collected 20000 sigs, attended meetings but all actions had been ignored. Arrogance & ignorance of councillors was unbelievable. In short, the Barnet Conservatives, of which Matthew Offord is a top dog, have no interest at all in parking.

It is all very well for MP's to start asking questions in the commons a couple of months before the election. Offord has no credibility as he didn't say a dickiebord for the last five years when his action could have made a huge difference, saved hundreds of small businesses and saved residents a fortune in car parking costs and hassle.

Of course the elephant in the room that Offord doesn't mention is just how much money the Tories recieve from the large retailers, who run shops at Brent Cross shopping centre, where of course parking is completely free.
 

North Finchley Traders have won the argument over parking charges

Following a long battle, which ended the career of one of our best known and most high profile Conservatives, Barnet Council has finally conceded that they got it wrong on parking and have admitted that the abolition of Pay and Display was bad for the High Street.

After intense local pressure, some changes were made in December 2012 and credit card parking machines introduced. A council report concedes that the previous regime was a disaster. The recommendations in a new report states that the experimental improvements be made permanent. It says

It has been noted that the introduction of the credit/debit card pay and display machines have had a significant impact on the patronage levels, although it is clear that pay by phone is still the primary method of paying for parking in the North Finchley Town Centre.

At last the council has admitted that it bungled the introduction of Pay by phone and that it has damaged the High Street.It is now clear that a pay on the High Street option is vital. Congratulations to Helen Michael and all of the other Finchley Traders who have been completely vindicated in their stance. The council has now decided to make the recent "improvements" permanent.

You can read the full report here on the Barnet Council website

http://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s10755/Parking%20Pilot%20Schemes%20-%20Cover%20Report.pdf

Barnet Council cocks it up again on the High Streets !

Today was the single concession Barnet Council made to hard pressed businesses and traders in the run up to Christmas. There was a two hour free parking period between 3pm and 5pm. I nipped up to Cafe Buzz to give Helen Michael a christmas card and have a mince pie and was shocked to find that there were no posters or any other information publicising the parking amnesty. Most drivers were simply pulling up and paying by phone as usual. The parking system run by NSL accepted their payments and some were livid to be informed that they should have been able to park for free.

It seems that Barnet Council cannot organise anuthing properly. I bumped into a Tory Councillor, who rather lamely stated "There is information on the Council website". Do you check the council website for notices every time you park?

Traders said some people even had come down because they had been told of the amnesty and then seen no signs and so had paid. One customer told me that they had been caught out before by parking wardens when they thought parking restrictions have been relaxed, so wasn't prepared to take the chance.

Barnet Council should immediately apologise and declare Christmas Eve a parking amnesty day.

If I wake up and hell has frozen over, I guess we'll know they have.

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Councillor Dean Cohen defends his erm, er, erm, er Parking policies

Here is a clip from last nights council meeting, featuring Councillor Dean Cohen, responding to Councillor Alan Schneidermans proposals for a fairer parking regime for the Boroughs High Street. Councillor Dean Cohen is not the worlds finest orator. Here's a litte game to play. The clip is 4 minutes and 48 seconds long. See if you can count how many times Councillor Cohen says "Erm" and "Er".



The Barnet Eye counted 79. That amounts to one every 3.6 seconds. There are machine guns that fire bullets slower than that. He should take a few lessons in oratory from Councillor John Hart

A history lesson from Councillor John Hart

As usual, the most entertaining speech in Barnet Town Hall last night was from Councillor John Hart. I thoroughly enjoy the old boy when he's on form. After a recent meeting he gave me some sound advice, suggesting I'd be far happier if I gave up blogging and followed the French example and got myself a mistress. When I suggested to John that my wife wouldn't approve, he disagreed "You'd be so much less of a miserable git that she'd be over the moon". I am not convinced.

John last night stated that the demise of the High Street was nothing to do with parking charges, in fact they'd been brought in to help the shops by unclogging parking spaces. I really must take John up to see Helen Michael in Finchley, I think she may be able to "educate" him a little as to where his thesis is flawed.

I think John has rather missed the point. I sometimes bump into him in Waitrose in Mill Hill (which has free parking) stocking up on the fine malt whisky and quails eggs which keep him so young and virile. Anyway, here is his tour de force. John beat me in the last council election. For all his faults, I'm glad that if someone had to beat me it was him, he is good value for money.


By the way, for those with memories as long as John Hart, back in 2010, I posted a fascinanting guest blog from Audrey Shaw, listing the shops in Mill Hill Broadway in 1957 and what they are today. I am sure John would approve. It says much about the way our lives have changed

http://barneteye.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/tides-of-change-in-mill-hill-broadway.html

Finchley Traders have had enough!

Last night I attended a meeting of Finchley traders, to discuss their response to the council, who have done nothing about parking in the 6 months since Brian Coleman was unceremoniously dumped in the GLA election. It is clear to everyone that the council have damaged the local High Street severely with their parking policies. When Coleman was sacked as Borough Parking Officer (AKA Cabinet member responsible for shafting local business), they had a fantastic opportunity to reverse the damage. Coleman first proposed the parking massacre in August 2011 and it was implemented in November 2012. That is four months. Dean Cohen has been in charge for six months and we don't even have any proposals.

As well as local traders, we also had two Labour Councillors and a Conservative cabinet member. The Tories sent David Longstaff, who seems to be the candidate for the sane brand of Conservative in Barnet. David made a  startling confession to me last night. I hope he will forgive me for sharing this indescretion. He said "You do realise I didn't get elected to screw everything up in Barnet?".  Yes David, I believe you, but as you are a cabinet member, now is the time to step up to the job.

For Labour, we had Alan Schneiderman and Pauline Coakley-Webb. Alan is probably the smartest cookie on the Labour benches, always well on top of his brief. Pauline is the voice of common sense, a business owner who is straight talking. I find it mildly amusing that the Labour party is becoming the party of small business in Barnet. The Conservatives seem to have walked away from the sector completely, which strikes me as a bit of a silly strategy.

So on to the meeting. The agenda consisted of three topics and was chaired by Julia Hines, chair of Age UK Barnet.

1. The effects of Scratchcards
2. What Traders want to see happen.
3. How we can get there

The discussion was interesting and it was 100% clear what the views of traders was.

Traders were dismissive of scratchcards. They felt these were of no benefit whatsoever. One trader told me after that as a solution, this resembled going to the doctor with cancer and being told "don't worry about that, we want to operate on your ingrown toenail". Several traders stated that the system was unworkable and told of drivers being ticketed whilst they purchased the cards.

The discussion as to what people wanted was again very straightforward. People wanted a return to pay and display. New meters which accepted credit cards would be even better. Traders spoke of improvements to operating hours. It was suggested that the CPZ hours could be adjusted. Other suggestions were adoption of the Federation of Small business proposal to have 1/2 hour free parking. My fellow Barnet blogger gave some start facts, 160,000 parking tickets were issued in Barnet this year, a rise of 30,000 on last year. That is 30,000 extra voters who have been alienated. Parking revenue is down, so the wardens are being made to work overtime to catch up.

Helen Michael asked the traders for a solution, local trader Paul Shea suggested full page adverts in the local paper. Traders agreed. The Barnet Eye detailed the price of these adverts and the assembled traders agreed to fund this. The Barnet Eye suggested that Councillor Longstaff report back to the leadership on the meeting. If there is no satisfactory movement from the council, the adverts will be placed next week. Other traders also agreed to display posters .

Gail Lazar of Barnet Traders suggested other messages to boost high streets, including pop up shops and other improvements. Some traders were sceptical and others resented the suggestion that other businesses could be given rent free periods, as they had to pay.

The meeting finished with Councillor Longstaff agreeing to do what he could to ensure that the Leadership fully understood the strength of feeling.

Mr Mustard observes as NSL parking warden tickets car on bay with vandalised sign

Prior to the meeting, there was a rather amusing (for us, not the motorist concerned) incident, where a NSL traffic warden was caught giving a motorist a ticket, despite signs being vandalised. As both Mr Mustard and myself were there, we indulged in some mischief.

As you can see, the sign on the left of the car has been vandalised and is unreadable

Mr Mustard left his card with the motorist and then explained to her that she should not pay the fine.

It is rather saddening that the Council has engaged in a war with its own residents. It is disgusting that unpaid bloggers seem to be the people left to fight the corner for residents, rather than the elected and rather well paid councillors running the adminstration

The Hendon Times reported on the meeting last night
http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/9986288.Traders_prepare_to_fight_to_save_high_street/

Barnet Council - Tories Behaving Badly Part II - Brian Coleman

Let's go back to May 2012. Brian Coleman lost his GLA seat by over 20,000 votes to Andrew Dismore. Every local commentator puts this down to his parking policies. The person who lead the campaign against High Street parking charges was Helen Michael. She collected 13,000 signatures. Helen tells me that nine out of ten people who signed the petition were former Tories alienated by Colemans policies. By collecting this many signatures, she earned the constitutional right to address Barnet Council on the issue. If her maths are correct, that means that she represents 11,700 people who may have  switched their vote. Given the marginn, had they voted Tory instead of for Andrew Dismore, Coleman would still be earning his £52,000 a year from the GLA (and £27,000 a year from the LFEPA). Helen informs me that thousands of people informed her they had never voted Labour before, but made the effort for Dismore purely because of Coleman and his attitude to local businesses. She said that other businesses displaying the poster said exactly the same thing. Helen herself had only voted Conservative before this election. She had believed that the Conservatives "looked after" local business.

So on Tuesday, we had the big day. Helen got her five minutes. The interesting question for me was whether Brian Coleman has learned from his mistake. Contrary to Councillor Robert Rams claims that the Council chamber was "packed full of left wing activists", there were actually about 15 traders and other customers of Helen's there, including a Rabbi, who sat next to me. They had come to support her as she spoke. How would Coleman react to Helen's appearance in the Council chamber. Would he apologise for his policies, which so damaged the traders business? Would he speak up to acknowledge the mistakes. No, of course he wouldn't, even though his policies could cost the Tories the council in 2014, unless they show that they can change. Would he show Helen courtesy as she spoke? The Barnet Eye was videoing Helen's speech, but noticed Brian Colemans extraordinarily boorish behaviour and broke of his filming of Helen to record it for posterity. You will notice every other councillor is paying attention to Helen. Even more interesting is how Coleman starts to behave himself when he realises the Barnet Eye is pointing a camera at him. Enjoy

Nick Walkley and conflicting interests

This week I've heard some rather disturbing news. At this stage I cannot disclose the nature of this news, but it has caused me to question the way Barnet Council seems to be morphing into an organisation which is less interested in simply providing good services to local people and becoming something altogether more sinister.

Let me try and explain. The Chief Executive Officer of Barnet is Mr Nicholas Walkley. To do this job, he gets paid £200,000 + benefits. For this enormous sum of money, I happen to think Mr Walkley should be 100% focussed on making sure that the council runs properly and not have any other distractions. It is a big enough job on its own and surely he doesn't need any more cash?

Then I came across this document - http://www.mpa.gov.uk/downloads/partnerships/lcrb/110825.pdf  - this is an organisation called the London Crime Reduction Board. In the minutes, I found this paragraph 

Nick Walkley provided an outline  of the work of the Recovery Coordination Group (RCG),  a body set-up by representatives of the boroughs affected, London Councils, the GLA, the Metropolitan Police and the London Fire Brigade.   It is  a short-life group with terms of reference to help London get back on  its feet in the wake of the disturbances.  NW chairs the Group.

As I read further, I came across this paragraph

The RCG is leading work on an impact assessment, to assess how the disorder has affected victims, businesses and communities and what is being done in each local area.  NW said that at present the majority of businesses, many of whom are sole traders, are facing financial difficulties.

The date of the meeting was the 25th August. Now there is a very interesting thing to consider. Mr Walkley talks here about local businesses suffering from "financial difficulties". Do you know what he was planning to do at the same time as he was chairing this meeting? He was planning with Brian Coleman to abolish Pay and Display in Barnet's High Streets and replace it with Pay By Phone. He was also planning huge hikes in High Street charges. I wonder if the RCG discussed this when they met and discussed how to get London back on it's feet? I wonder if the conversation went like this

Mayor of London - Boris Johnson - "Well Nick, you are the leader of the RCG, what ideas have you got to help business and get London back on it's feet financially"

Nick Walkley -  "Well Bozzer, in Barnet we are planning to abolish pay and display parking, hike up parking charges and drive all the customers away from local businesses and into large shopping centres like Brent Cross, which we want to see double in size, they have to get their customers from somewhere you know"

Now this may seem outlandish, but back in 2010 I asked an FOI question about the "One Barnet Project Board" - a board set up by Barnet Council to integrate the One Barnet project and ensure smooth liaison between various major stakeholders in Barnet. Here is the details of the FoI response.

Non-Executive Directors of Barnet Council 

a) How many Non-Executive Directors does Barnet Council have?  

None in the usual sense of the term, but the executive heads of the five principal partner bodies advise the Council's Chief Executive and senior colleagues on an informal unpaid basis.  They are referred to as Non-Executive Directors (NEDs), although they have none of the usual responsibilities associated with this function.

 b) Who are they?  
•    Tom Nathan, Commercial Director, Brent Cross Shopping Centre
•    Cameron Ward, Chief Executive, NHS Barnet
•    Stephen Knight, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Middlesex University
•    Neil Basu, Borough Police Commander
•    Marilyn Hawkins, Principal, Barnet College
c) What organisations do they represent?

See above

d) What criteria does Barnet Council use to engage these Non-Executive Directors?

They are not "engaged" but have accepted invitations to meet with the CE and senior colleagues on an informal advisory basis, the only criterion being their posts as heads of the five principle partner bodies listed above.

e) How often do they meet?

Monthly

f)  What is the name of the Council Committee(s) in which they assemble? 

The CE of NHS Barnet attends Cabinet meetings in an advisory capacity.

g) How much are they paid to fulfil this Non-Executive Director role? 

Nothing 

 
h) What influence do they have on Council Policy? 

The Council has a role of civic leadership amongst the above partner organisations.  The NEDs informally advise the CE and his senior colleagues in fulfilling this role. 

i) How long has Barnet Council had Non-Executive Directors? 

Since 2006 

j) Do these non -executive Directors represent Barnet Council in any capacity on Committees outside the Borough? 

No 

k) Which Council Officer appoints them in their role as Non-Executive Directors? 

No appointment is made - they are invited to take part in this advisory process by the Chief Executive. 

l) What is their period of Office as a Non-Executive Director and how do they cease to
become a Non-Executive Director? 

The arrangement is purely informal.  No period of office is stipulated.  Their  position as NEDs is consequent on their appointment as heads of their respective organisations.

As you can see, the board contains the chief of police and the managing director of Brent Cross. They meet informally and so no minutes are taken. Who was the only private sector representative. Not someone from small business or a representative of small traders. No, it was the MD of Brent Cross. Now I've attended a presentation by Tom Nathan and he is a superb speaker. One has to say that in his role on the board, is he likely to favour measures which benefit his business or local traders?

Now this is bad enough, but lets consider another role of Mr Walkley. He is the returning officer at local elections in Barnet. It is his role to oversee elections and make sure they are conducted legally. His job is to resolve any breaches of election law and make sure they are dealt with appropriately. Let me give you a recent example. At the Brunswick Park by-election, the Conservatives put out a leaflet which made claims about car parking charges which technically breached election law. It is Mr Walkley's duty to investigate these and ensure that the Police do their job in prosecuting anybody seriously breaching the law. It is not unknown for private individuals, with an axe to grind to breach these laws on a local level. If someone has a beef with a local councillor or GLA rep, they may do something which breaches such laws, by putting up posters which contain minor breaches. Mr Walkley has to decide whether these should be acted upon. In most cases, a simple call explaining the law and a request to stop suffices. After all we live in a democracy and we don't want to persecute citizens, do we?

So consider this. Take the Brunswick Park leaflet. This was out by a professional political party, who should know the law. The election agent should have training in what should and shouldn't be put up. Mr Walkley, who is CEO on £200,000 is also returning officer and gets paid a few grand for this job as well. He does however report to the Leader of the Council, Richard Cornelius, who is leader of the Conservative Party group. If Mr Walkley chooses to prosecute the election agent of the Conservatives for the leaflet, how will this go down with his Conservative boss? Is this a conflict of interest?

Then lets consider the other side of the coin. We have the One Barnet project board, that meets with members of the Council, Police and Brent Cross. There are no minutes so we don't know what is discussed. At present Barnet is awash with protests about car parking charges. There isn't a single representative who has the local traders interests on the board, quite the opposite.

We theoretically could have a situation where Mr Walkley has found himself embarrassed by the parking protests, which reflect badly on him and his organisation. We have Brent Cross, which stand to financially benefit from the movement of trade from High Streets to the large shopping complex. All very cosy. We also have the Chief of Police sitting in on these convesations. Now I know Neil Basu and Neil Seabridge, who are the last two chiefs of police. I have no doubt that these two gentlemen are completely above board and would not be party to any underhand dealings. I do however have concerns about a structure that allows for the potential of conversations which may be prejudicial to certain groups and individuals withing Barnet.

Just suppose, for instance that a group opposing the parking changes found themselves on the wrong side of the law? How could anyone have any confidence whatsoever that the process hadn't been compromised by all of these conflicts of interest. We rely totally on the honest and integrity of the particular individuals to ensure that everything is above board. There are absolutely no checks and balances and no democratic accountability for this process. All of the people listed above are listed by the Council as "One Barnet Stakeholders". Someone such as me, who opposes One Barnet finds themselves not only in opposition to the policies of the Conservative administration, but up against the Police, the NHS, Middlesex University and Brent Cross shopping Centre.

Do you find this all a bit disturbing? I most certainly do. Barnet Council and Nick Walkley seem to have no concept of what a conflict of interest is. They have no concept of democratic accountability and transparency. That is why there are are no minutes for this meeting and we have no idea what they get up to.

The more power that gets concentrated in the hands of an unaccountable few, the more potential there is for abuse. How much of this is a real threat and how much of this is just potentially a threat? Sadly you only find that out that the process has actually been compromised when people who oppose projects like One Barnet start finding themselves on the end of police investigations for the most trivial of matters. Whilst we all hope that no such thing could happen in Barnet, shouldn't we insist that the structures and separation of responsibilities are in place to ensure that such things are impossible.

Update - Email from Barry Evangeli regarding Barnet Eye email to Richard Cornelius re harrassment of Barnet trader

Earlier this evening, I posted an open email I sent to the Leader of the Council, Richard Cornelius concerning the treatment of Barnet trader and opponent of Brian Coleman's parking charges. I did not mention this in the original post, but East Barnet Councillor Barry Evangeli happened to be in Cafe Buzz (not with me I hasten to add) when the incident took place. I copied Councillor Evangeli into the email, as I asssumed that he'd be keen to confirm what I said to Councillor Cornelius. I was rather shocked to see that Councillor Evangeli took a different view of the events. Please make up own mind as to what really happened and as to the mark of the man (Mr Evangeli).

I am really very angry about what happened for many reasons. As Councillor Evangeli stated, I do have the video footage. As the Council official mentioned was merely doing their job and was "the messenger" I believe it would be most unfair to drag them into the row, although it will be clear from, the interview footage I release, that there were more people in Cafe Buzz than myself, Poppy and the cat.

Councillor Evangeli is correct when he states that Helen Michael shared a cup of tea with the Council Official and behaved with a friendly demeanour towards them. This is because she has impeccable manners and recognised the fact that the council official was the messenger, having to do someone elses bidding.  The inescapable fact is that she was given the notice, at work, in full view of her customers. There is no way that this could be perceived as anything other than embarrassing and humiliating. Helen Michael did her best to make the best of a bad situation and succeeded.

There can be no other conclusion than one that this was an attempt to silence Helen Michael and stop her campaign against the parking charges. We can quite clearly add Councillor Barry Evangeli to the list of Barnet Tory Councillors who have no empathy whatsoever with the people they purport to serve. I'd suggest you read the email's bottom to top to follow the sequence.
-------------------------------------------

From: Roger Tichborne

To: Evangeli, Cllr Barry Conservative ; Cornelius, Cllr Richard Conservative

Cc: Walkley, Nick

Sent: Friday, April 27, 2012 12:22 AM

Subject: Re: Open Letter - Harrassment of Barnet Traders

Dear Councillor Evangeli

I am disgusted by your attitude and your comment. You implied in your email that  was telling lies.

What did I say that was untrue?

Did a council official enter Helen Michael's shop without notification and serve a letter on her, in full view of her customers?

Would a normal human being find this embarrassing and humiliating?

Was this necessary, given that Councillor Richard Cornelius had spoken to Helen Michael by phone?

You tell me what fact I have misrepresented anywhere in my email? You tell me what crap I've written?

Just because Helen Michael, unlike you, is able to be charming and civil when faced with an embarrassing situation, does not make it any less of an embarrassing situation. It is completely clear to me what sort of a man you are from your behaviour and your comment and sadly that is not a credit to Barnet Council or the Conservative Party. My sole concern in writing this email was to draw the attention of the leader of the Council to what I felt was unacceptable behaviour by the people in the organisation he is the leader of. I copied you in, as I mistakenly thought you would also be of the opinion that the council had behaved in a rather overbearing and unappealing manner and I mistakenly believed that you were sensible enough to see why the council were treating a local taxpayer and business ratepayer in an appalling fashion.  

As to making mountains out of molehills, I happen to believe that intimidating political opponents in the runup to elections is a very serious business. The chain of events is quite clear. A council official walked into Helen Michael's shop, served a notice on her in front of her customers and staff, following her campaign against unreasonable parking charges levied by your administration. This was embarrassing and humiliating. I wrote to the Leader of the council  to express my disgust at this and you sent your leader an email which contained offensive comments in regard to me, and were stupid enough to copy me into it. 

If this issue is a "molehill" as you claim, why have the council engaged their legal team on the issue and despatched a council employee to personally deliver the letter? Just out of interest, did you suggest to Helen Michael that, as the issue is a "molehill" in your opinion, you would intervene to ensure that the council treated such an unimportant issue as a "molehill"? Did you enquire as to whether this visit was the first one Helen Michael had received in relation to her leaflet about the parking charges from figures in authority? Did you offer to help a valued local businesswoman resolve her issues with the council?

Please can you explain to me how you can possibly think that the council's behaviour today is a trivial matter? Is the letter Ms Michael received something with no potential impact on Ms Michael whatsoever? If it is, then why did the council waste their time sending it? If it isn't and has potential serious consequences for Ms Michael, how can you possibly dismiss it as a "Molehill".

I truly hope against hope, that the Leader of the Council will realise that this is a serious issue and one which portrays Barnet Council in a very poor light. 

Regards

Roger Tichborne     

----- Original Message -----

From: Evangeli, Cllr Barry Conservative

To: Roger Tichborne; Cornelius, Cllr Richard Conservative

Cc: Walkley, Nick

Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2012 8:43 PM

Subject: Re: Open Letter - Harrassment of Barnet Traders

Dear Mr Titchborne

Thank you for your email.

If you filmed the whole event, then you should have it all on record! Without making a mountain out of a molehill, let's please stick to the facts as to the chain of events!

Regards
Cllr Barry Evangeli
East Barnet Ward

---

From: Roger Tichborne
To: Evangeli, Cllr Barry Conservative; Cornelius, Cllr Richard Conservative
Cc: Walkley, Nick
Sent: Thu Apr 26 20:21:19 2012
Subject: Re: Open Letter - Harrassment of Barnet Traders

Dear Councillor Evangeli,

I copied you into the email as you were present as a matter of courtesy.  I assumed you would have a private have a word with Councillor Cornelius to confirm the incident, not call me a liar. As you well know, I spoke to you. I saw exactly what happened and have it on video.

Do you really think that it is anything other than humiliating to have someone walk into your shop and give you such a letter in front of your customers. Helen had a cup of tea with him, because she is a nice polite person. As you well know, I had to shoot off to see a rep. It had been my intention to discuss the matter with Helen, but as you were present I did not want to embarrass you or put you in a position where there was a conflict of interest for you.

I spoke to Helen after seeing the rep by telephone and she was upset by the matter.

I am truly disgusted by your response. You are aware I was filming at the time, aren't you. Maybe you are used to receiving summonses in front of your customers and find it in no way humiliating, but I can assure you that most people would be. I believe councillors should support local people. Sadly it seems that this is not your view.

Regards

Roger Tichborne

----- Original Message -----

From: Evangeli, Cllr Barry Conservative

To: Roger Tichborne ; Cornelius, Cllr Richard Conservative

Cc: Walkley, Nick

Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2012 7:49 PM

Subject: Re: Open Letter - Harrassment of Barnet Traders

Leader

Absolute b******* (crap)!

I was sitting having tea with Helen Michael at the time.

The gentleman from the council (who is on first name terms with Helen) sat down and joined us for a cuppa and gave her a letter. Present at the cafe were myself, one other table and the cat!

Barry
Cllr Barry Evangeli
East Barnet Ward

---

From: Roger Tichborne
To: Cornelius, Cllr Richard Conservative
Cc: Walkley, Nick; Evangeli, Cllr Barry Conservative
Sent: Thu Apr 26 19:10:19 2012
Subject: Open Letter - Harrassment of Barnet Traders

To : The Leader of Barnet Council

Dear Councillor Cornelius,

This afternoon I witnessed the most shocking thing I have ever seen in all of my time covering politics in Barnet. I had arranged to meet A.M. Poppy, the Green Party candidate at Cafe Buzz in Finchley to record a video interview for the Barnet Eye blog, as part of our news coverage of the GLA elections.

As I was conducting the interview, with the video camera running, in the middle of the Cafe, an officialf Barnet Council arrived, approached Helen Michael, the owner of Cafe Buzz, and served an official notice on Ms Michael, in relation to distribution of posters concerning the traders protest about Barnet Council parking charges. 

This was done in a most humiliating and embarrassing way, in front of a whole cafe full of people, whilst I was in the middle of an interview with the Green Party candidate. This is clearly an attempt by Barnet Council to intimidate Ms Michael in the run up to the GLA elections. Ms Michael was clearly upset and refused to discuss the incident with me, until she has spoken to a lawyer, although it was crystal clear what was happening.

It is 100% clear to me that this is a highly political action and the timing is not a coincidence, with the GLA election next Thursday. As Ms Michael told me last week that she had spoken privately to you concerning the matter, I cannot believe that you would seek to publicly humiliate her in this manner. You could easily have rang her and asked her to receive the notice in a less embarrassing manner.

The behaviour of the council you are running becomes more like a repressive Stalinist regime each week. I believe that you should hang your head in shame at such behaviour, as this is clearly a politcally motivated act. Thousands of posters are put up every week in Barnet looking for cats, advertising drug fuelled raves and money lending services in all manner of places. How many of these people receive a visit in such a manner?

I believe a full apology to Helen Michael is in order. Needless to say that if Barnet Council persist with this attempt to silence a vociferous critic, they will doubtless find themselves on the receiving end of yet more awful media coverage. The traders of Barnet are a huge asset, one which is clearly not valued by your administration. I am deeply upset at what I saw today, and I sincerely hope you will be too.

Regards

Roger Tichborne

www.barneteye.blogspot.com

Guest Blog - Open Letter to the Leader of Barnet Council from the local traders from Helen Michael

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 

                                                                                                                          20^th 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 

Why I'm proud of Barnet in pictures - Part 1 - Parking petiton

Yesterday Helen Michael, leader of the North Finchley traders campaign agaimnst Barnet Councils parking stealth tax, handed a petitition in to Councillor Richard Cornelius. There were 13,500 signatures on the petition. Have you ever wondered what 13,500 signatures look like? I took some pictures at the screening of A Tale of Two Barnets at Cafe Buzz on Wednesday night. I am proud of the traders and the people of Barnet for their efforts in collecting so many signatures.

North Finchley Traders protest against Brian Colemans parking charges

Barneteye TV - Barnet Traders North Finchley Protest

Fight back against Rip Off Barnet - North Finchley Traders to protest against Parking Charges - Monday 6th at 10 am

If you care about the impact of the ludicrous parking charges in Barnet and the abolition of Pay and Display parking, please be at Cafe Buzz in North Finchley  on Monday morning at 10am. Local traders are conducting a funeral services for the local High Street, officiated over by Brian Coleman (clearly this role is being played by an actor, as Coleman never takes responsibility for his own cock ups).

Please attend if you can. The protest has been organised by North Finchley trader Helen Michael.

FOI response proves that Brian Coleman's CPZ changes have wrecked Barnet Council finances

Guest Blog from Barnet CPZ Campaign

The information in the email below is simply astonishing. The purchase of visitor vouchers by Barnet's CPZ residents has all but died out since the price was quadrupled.

This is not surprising. CPZ residents can't and won't pay £40 or more to hold a children's party at their home; £20 to invite friends round for coffee; £28 or more to hold a book club meeting, £4 to have the grandchildren drop by for a minutes.

So  these sorts of simple social engagements have been abandoned by Barnet's all day CPZ residents or they are putting themselves and their guests to inconvenience and embarrassment to work around the charges.

Barnet Council in its 2011-2012 anticipated that almost 200,000 visitor vouchers would be purchased this year at £4 each. They'll be luck to sell 10% of this number.

Barnet Council predicted that quadrupling the cost of visitor vouchers would generate £590,000 MORE INCOME. In fact, it looks like it will create at least £100,000 LESS INCOME.     

Barnet Council: Destroying its communities while destroying its finances. 
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 From:  ********************** Redacted Barnet Council Employee
 Date: 31 January 2012 14:11:58 GMT

To: xxxxx 

Subject: Freedom of Information Act 2000

Dear xxxxx

I am writing in respect of your enquiry for information held by the Authority under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to you. 

Please find the information you requested enclosed. If you have any queries concerning the information please contact me at the supplied address. 

18/04/2011 to 07/01/2012
Number of residents permits sold = 8,825
Number of visitor vouchers sold = 16,696

2010/11 -  01/04/2010 to 31/03/2011
Number of residents permits sold  = 13,453
Number of visitor vouchers sold = 331,614 

Unfortunately, we are unable to state how many of the applications received were for a households first car as we do not have the means of reporting on this presently. The figures provided are for the total number of resident permits and visitor vouchers sold for the periods between 18/04/2011 and 07/01/2012 and between 01/04/2010 and 31/03/2011. 

 
If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been handled, you can request a review within the next 20 working days by writing to the FOI Officer at: The London Borough of Barnet, North London Business Park, Oakleigh Road South, London, N11 1NP (email foi@barnet.gov.uk).

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint, you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at: The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF (telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45; website: www.ico.gov.uk). There is no charge for making an appeal.

Yours sincerely,

******* *********
Administration Assistant
Environment, Planning and Regeneration
London Borough of Barnet, North London Business Park, Oakleigh Road South, London N11 1NP
Barnet Online: www.barnet.gov.uk

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Guest Blogs are always welcome from community based campaigns in the London Borough of Barnet. Submit via the link in the sidebar

Andrew Dismore give Brian Coleman a parking ticket !

The Barnet Eye always appreciates a cunning stunt  (I had to check that statement six times being dyslexic). Andrew Dismore pulled off a corker. He issued a parking ticket to Councillor Brian Colemanm the man responsible for the parking carnage in Barnet. Here is Mr Dismores press release
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When out campaigning with Labour Councillors and activists against Barnet Council’s monstrous parking charges on Saturday 28^th January, Labour’s London Assembly candidate for Barnet could not resist the temptation to “ticket” Barnet parking supremo Cllr Brian Coleman’s car with Labour’s “parking ticket” campaign leaflet (photo and copy leaflet attached)

Mr Dismore said:

“It was too good an opportunity to miss.

When I saw Brian Coleman’s car parked on his off street parking space outside his church owned flat, it seemed to me grossly unfair that while others in his street needed parking permits for which he has jacked up the charges, he did not, so I “ticketed” him.

It’s a pity we can’t levy a fine on Cllr Coleman just  as his parking wardens fine so many residents and business customers  as they struggle with his outrageous charges and convoluted payment systems. But our parking ticket leaflets make the point  by  demonstrating  the unfairness and asking  people to sign labour’s petition against the charges.

He is now planning even higher charges with a proposed increase of 5% from April this year.

People power forced Westminster Council into a humiliating climb down over their proposed night time and weekend charges in the West End. We need people power to stop Conservative Barnet Council’s unfair charges too, so that’s why we are encouraging people to sign our on line petition, which has thousands of signatures already.”

For further details call Andrew Dismore 07957 625 813

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I hope that the people of Barnet make their point in a manner which Coleman really will have to take notice of by shunning him at the GLA elections. Does he deserve his £52,000 a year allowance to represent us? I dont' think so.  Well done to Dismore for an amusing stunt. I think many Barnet residents will agree wholeheartedly with his sentiments.