Parking and Business : Lynne Hillan just doesn't get it !

Last week I attended a Leader Listens business breakfast at Barnet Council Offices. Sadly, the leader, Lynne Hillan was poorly so her Deputy chaired the meeting. As one of the major initiatives I'm working on is to get Barnet to change the parking arrangements in Mill Hill Broadway so that the first hour would be free, I thought I'd raise the issue. All of the businesses present agreed that this was a great idea. The only objection came from Brian Reynolds, the Deputy Chief Executive, who said it would cost the council a lot of revenue. Members of the Barnet Traders association were present and they all agreed that in Barnet, such a move would be a great boost to trade and help business thrive. This would improve the quality of the High Street and allow shops to take on staff, reducing unemployment. The Barnet Traders detailed how they were adopting the Crouch End Project model to boost trade.

I was interested to read a story further detailing the project in this weeks Barnet Press. In it they quote Lynne Hillan. She makes a couple of choice quotes :-
We have always believed in low intervention and that the market will sort itself out.

We have always believed in low intervention and that the market will sort itself out. We could tinker around the edges but we are wanting to do something that would actually mean something. In this recession everyone is struggling.We could tinker around the edges but we are wanting to do something that would actually mean something. In this recession everyone is struggling.

Now the Council has given the traders a £10,000 grant to set up the Crouch End project model. This will pay to help businesses set up a coalition, website, branding and schemes for the area.Whilst the £10,000 is welcome surely it is just the sort of tinkering at the edges Hillan talks about. What traders need is for Barnet to transform the parking charges. Before Christmas Barnet Council suspended parking charges at meters after 3pm across the borough to help boost trade. The scheme cost the authority £100,000 across the Borough's 19 shopping centres, but a survey of traders said the scheme helped increase sales and meant customers could spend more time browsing.Hillan says in the article:-

In Barnet we have traders saying the problem is with parking, but in Haringey there is nowhere to park.

I couldn't believe this. As usual Lynne Hillan and  Barnet Councils solution to everything is to blame someone else. As with everything, they fail to see that although they may lose some money on parking, the overall benefit is huge. It would generate employment, which reduces taxes and improves the quality of life. The London Borough of Barnet will never become a business friendly place until we get people who know and care about small businesses and know how to run them.

Sadly The Leader of the Council, Lynne Hillans efforts to run a company, Ashurst Direct Marketing, ended in the company going into liquidation in 2006. I hear through the grapevine that there were some rather interesting changes to the names of various companies owned by Lynne Hillan just before the company went bust. I'm sure it was all completely above board though, as her Solicitor was fellow Tory Cabinet member Melvin Cohen and it is unthinkable that a pillar of the community such as the venerable Councillor Cohen would stand for any shenanigans.

*** Note **** Please note that due to a typo, mention was inadvertantly made to Ashcroft Direct marketing. Please note that this should have referred to Ashurst Direct marketing and in no way reffered to any company named Ashcroft Direct Marketing (or any other Ashcroft), please accept any apologies for any confusion caused.