Open letter to Richard Cornelius and Barnet councillors: time to get a grip on parking!

Brian Coleman - Parking Stealth tax supemo

The 'Famous Five' bloggers of Barnet yesterday sent a joint letter to the Leader of Barnet Council, Richard Cornelius and all of the other Barnet Councillors. As a signatory we are asking our local Conservative Council and all of our councillors to do what they were elected to do and look after the interests of residents and local businesses. The document detailing the paring mayhem in Barnet, caused by Brian Colemans parking stealth tax has been laid bare. He is clearly not up to the job. It is time for him to be sacked and replaced by someone who is not completely out of touch with reality. 


It beggars belief that a supposedly Conservative Council can be so anti business, anti car driver and anti local resident. Whilst David Cameron speaks of less regulation and business friendly policies, Brian Coleman, the GLA Car tax and regulation rampage, causing irrepairable damage to business, local communities and the environment. 


I spoke to one specialist shopkeeper in Barnet who is now considering relocating to Boreham Wood in Hertfordshire, as most of his customers are not Barnet residents, are not registered to pay by phone and so are refusing to use his business. This is being repeated all over Barnet. It beggars belief that a Conservative administration, which has been made fully aware of the problem, is still burying its head in the sand.


This is a major test of the Leadership of Richard Cornelius. It is clear that Brian Colemans park and tax policies are an abject failure. How will he respond?
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Dear Leader and Barnet Councillors,

On 20th March a document was placed upon the Barnet Council website entitled - Bittacy Hill_Introduction_of_Waiting_Restrictions - (http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/reports/reportdetail.asp?ReportID=11110).

This document details the mayhem caused by the abolition of free bays in Controlled Parking Zones as part of Councillor Brian Coleman's parking policies.
This document details how the Barnet Police have had their time wasted, congestion has been caused, buses have been delayed, residents inconvenienced, and people's safety has been endangered. In short, it is the most damning indictment of a Council policy possible.
The background information section of this document says:

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8. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

8.1 In June 2011 the Council completed a scheme whereby all ‘Free’ parking bays were converted to permit holder or paid for parking bays in the borough’s Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs). As a result of the changes made to the Mill Hill East CPZ, a proportionate level of displaced parking is occurring on both sides of Bittacy Hill on the outskirts of the CPZ boundary.

8.2 The council has been contacted by roads users and local residents, complaining of the congestion being caused as through vehicles are being obstructed by the displaced parking.

8.3 London Buses have reported to the council that the displaced parking is obscuring sightlines and obstructing through traffic, preventing their buses from gaining suitable access through the road, resulting in the delay of their services. They also stated that this situation has caused major congestion in both directions on Bittacy Hill and therefore, have had to temporarily put some of their buses on diversion.

8.4 In addition, the Police have also expressed concerns regarding this location, and have requested for waiting restrictions to be introduced.

8.5 Following investigations including site observations, Officers concluded that major congestion occurs on the hill at this location, and in order to keep traffic moving through the borough considered that the provision of waiting restrictions would be appropriate given the obstructive parking which is taking place.

8.6 Therefore, proposals to introduce lengths of ‘at any time’ waiting restrictions on certain lengths of Bittacy Hill including around its junctions with Bittacy Close and Engle Park, were designed in order to deter obstructive parking and improve traffic flow, sightlines and safety.

8.7 In anticipation of the statutory consultation, Mill Hill Ward Members were consulted on the proposals with all advising of their agreement and support of the measures for the area. In particular, Councillors Khatri and Hart stated that they had also received complaints on this matter or have experienced problems themselves. Councillor Hart did raise the issue that more restrictions may cause more problems to the wider area as did Councillor Schama.

8.8 However, Officers consider that any displaced parking that may occur as a result of the introduction of the restrictions can be absorbed into the local network with minimal impact.

8.9 In mid August it was necessary to introduce emergency temporary waiting restrictions on the eastern side of Bittacy Hill, as nearby Devonshire Road was closed to allow for essential maintenance works to take place, which resulted in an increased traffic flow on Bittacy Hill that exasperated the problems occurring at the location.

8.9 Traffic cones were placed on street to indicate the temporary waiting restrictions, and the location was monitored by Officers. Observations showed that displaced parking was minimal and what did occur had little impact on the area. It was concluded that the removal of the parked vehicles at this location was very effective in relieving the congestion normally experienced.

8.10 Additional supporting evidence underlining the concern via photographs showing buses being obstructed and the congestion experienced were sent to the council and a petition signed by all residents of Bittacy Close was also submitted, asking for waiting restrictions to be implemented at the junction of Bittacy Close and Bittacy Hill.

8.14 Councillor Khatri and Councillor Hart have since also reaffirmed their views and support for the proposals. In particular, they advised of their concerns regarding safety being an issue at this location. Councillor Hart also re-iterated his concerns for residents of Bittacy Close, who suffer from obstruction at the junction of Bittacy Close and Bittacy Hill.

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Councillor Brian Coleman ignored all wise counsel in order to introduce these policies. He ignored all efforts to mitigate the problems caused.As a result, we have a situation where ever more parking restrictions will be required to fix a problem that did not previously exist.
To what end? To inconvenience and overcharge local residents.

It is time for Barnet Council to have an urgent rethink. It is time to reinstate free bays, cut parking charges on Barnet’s high streets, and, most of all, it is time to put someone in charge of parking who is competent.

There is no way that Barnet Council can pretend that Coleman’s parking policies are anything other than an unmitigated disaster. Your own document says so in black and white.

Signed:

Derek Dishman
John Dix
Vicki Morris
Theresa Musgrove
Roger Tichborne

Barnet Traders Special - North Finchley Business owners speak

A week ago I was at the Arts Depot, attending a Barnet Council organised forum for small businesses. Yesterday, I attended my own little mini forum of small business owners in North Finchley. At the council meeting I'd been highly impressed withthe way Helen Michaels, the owner of Cafe Buzz had spoken. Even more impressive was the way she seemed to have complete backing of virtually the entire meeting. At the meeting I gave Helen my card, told her about the blog (she'd never heard of it before) and suggested we do an interview. She agreed, so I made my way up to her business, Cafe Buzz in North Finchley yesterday afternoon, to see her. She advised me to arrive hungry, as she'd be providing lunch. I was a bit taken aback when I arrived. I had expected a quite chat, but the shop was full of the owners of small businesses, all wanting a chat as well. It became clear why Helen had the support of the hall, she is a natural organiser.

Before we got going, she kept her side of the bargain and provided me with lunch, which I must say was excellent. Without wishing to get too sidetracked, I am on an anti cancer diet right now which involves being virtually vegan, eating plenty of antoxidants and drinking a minimum of five cups of green tea a day. In the vast majority of cafe's in London, this means that you are generally limited to fried tomatoes and mushrooms, and if you are lucky a slice of wholemeal toast without butter. Helen provided a very tasty snack of lentils and roast vegetables, with a fine cup of green tea to boot. And don't be mistaken, all of the other stuff I'd have eaten had I not been on the diet were there, tastily beaming out at me.I suspect I'll be back again

So who did we have? We had a hairdresser, the owner of a health shop, the owner of a discount store, the butcher to name but a few. Now normally I'm a copious note taker, but for some reason I'd left the notepad in the car, and I'd parked a half a  mile away to avoid having to pay to park ( I can't be bothered to register and I don't want to give Coleman a penny in parking charges). If you don't mind a schlep and you are visiting in North Finchley, you can park for free in Avondale Avenue except between 2 and 3pm.

As I tucked into my lunch, perhaps the most interesting part of the chat occurred. We all discussed the issues and challenges of running a small business in these times. Helen summed it up when she said "I am personally responsible for the lease, I can't walk away from it, even if I wanted to". She explained how a few years ago "someone from Barnet council asked me why I want to run a business here and suggested I'd do better if I moved to Brent Cross". She explained how Councillor Brian Coleman had marched into one of her neighbouring stores and demanded that the owner moved some street furniture, which he'd taken a dislike to "Get your property off my street". That was her first encounter with Coleman. She said "what right does he have to call it "my street", we pay rates". All of the business owners told the same story. There turnover was down. Some by 15% some by 30%. Why? The same answers time and again. "People can't be bothered with the hassle of paying to park". I asked about the 115,000 people that the council have claimed to have registered? "That is less than 1/3rd of the population. That is probably people who have to because they park in Council car parks for work."  The hairdressers have said that it is the hassle factor rather than the cost which is putting her customers off. "People are just baffled by the system. Who has twenty minutes to register for the system, for a quick trim?" The owner of the discount store was far more blunt "They're killing our business and they don't care".

We discussed politics. Most of the assembled group agreed that the small business community is pretty staunchly Conservative. How has the changes affected this "We won't be voting for them agin until they start listening". One of the group said "I love Boris and what he's doing, I can't believe he's tied up with Coleman, that will hurt him round here". Helen has had a bunch of t-shirts made up. She's getting a group of small business owners together to protest at the Boris and Brian show at the Talk London event tonight at the Peel Centre in Colindale.

We discussed the cost of making the parking regime more business friendly. We discussed the claim by Richard Cornelius that it would cost £2 million to introduce free parking  for 1/2 an hour. I dispute this claim. You may ask why? Because it is clear to me that no one really has a clue how much it would cost. There are two types of shoppers. Those that want to spend 5 minutes buying a paper, milk, get cash out of an ATM etc. Then there are those that are having a meal, getting their hair done or other lengthy appointment. To me the answer is simple. Have a designated section of parking in each High Street, maybe 20% of spaces, where there is free parking for 1/2 hour. In these bays, if you park longer than 1/2 hour without a ticket, treble the fine. If the space is available, you can still pay and display for longer, but you have to pay. This would ensure a turnover of car parking spaces. It would mean that people just nipping out for a sandwich at lunchtime would be spared the effects of the stealth parking tax.

Richard Cornelius asked how the council could plug the gaps in their finances. Here's one suggestion. Last year, Barnet Blogger Mr Reasonable suggested on the Council Pledgebank, that he would donate his time free of charge, to the Council if he could look at the books and identify savings. The council never got back to him. I would suggest that Barnet Council, take Mr Reasobable up on his offer. I'd suggest that they also invite myself and Helen Michaels to take part. Any savings we identify, could be offset against the supposed £2 million required to fund the parking changes.

It may not surprise you to know that I think we could save a minimum of five times that amount (£10 million). How can I make such a claim? Well quite by accident bloggers discovered that Barnet Council had paid Metpro Security over £1.4 million for security services. There was no tender for this work and no proper contract. As a result of our enquiries, the agreement was cancelled and the work retendered to companies which charged far less. Even worse, much of the work was deemed "unnecessary". At the audit meeting, where this was discussed, it was revealed that of the 9,700 suppliers Barnet use, only the top 187 are actually properly audited. I would suggest that between myself, Mr Reasonable and Helen Michaels, it is inconceivable that we wouldn't find at least a couple of dozen other such expensive and wasteful practices and examples of unnecessary services. I'd be happy to give the rest of Barnet the £8million savings, once we'd got the funding for our free parking initiative. What is more, I doubt it would take people, who are used to eking out savings running their own businesses very long to achieve. Here is my challenge to Barnet Council. Call the bluff of the Barnet Eye. Take up this challenge. You really cannot lose. You'll either get a stack of savings or you can discredit me for once and all. All I ask is unlimited access to the books. I will happily sign a non disclosure agreement if that is what is necessary, to protect any sensitive data.

Of course, if Barnet refuse to take up this offer, what does that tell you? I await the call.

Boris support for Brian Coleman is starting to bite back

Has Boris made a big tactical blunder by agreeing to appear with Brian Coleman at an election rally tomorrow night. I spoke to a friend last night and he gave me a stark illustration of how Brian Coleman is seriously affecting the core Conservative vote in Barnet.The pay and display changes have been universally rejected by the local business community. Yesterday I bumped into a friend who is a staunch Conservative. He runs a small business with his wife and is a member of the local business community, having run a successful business with his wife for 25 years. He's also an active member of the local Jewish community. He attended Orange Hill Senior High School with me many years ago and has never been afraid to speak his mind. He told me -

This parking business is a direct attack on the local business community. Coleman has behaved in a disgusting manner and clearly doesn't give a shit about small businesses. The local business community have been the backbone of the local Conservatives for many years. Whether it be fundraising or delivering leaflet, we've always supported the party. Now we find that this counts for nothing. We have been attacked and no one in the local party seems to care. I've never voted anything other than Conservative. I could never vote Lib Dem or Labour and I hate Ken Livingstone, but as Boris has chosen to stand on a platform with Coleman, I will be staying at home this time. Even if the parking changes were reversed tomorrow, it would change nothing. As soon as the election is out of the way, they'll put them back. I can't trust Coleman and until he is gone, the Conservative party will have to do without my vote. I'm not the only one. The whole community is up in arms.

If any local Conservative MP's, Councillors or other party activists are reading this, I suggest that they take themselves down to any of our High Streets and have a word with local shopkeepers. The above statement has been edited. There were plenty of words starting with F's and C's that I took out. If the local Conservatives think that they can impose policies which cut peoples incomes, in challenging eeconomic times, without there being a price to pay, then they really are even more useless than we thought.

In May, if Boris Johnson finds he has lost the Mayoralty in a tight race, I wonder if he will look back on the day he took a platform with Brian Coleman in the London Borough of Barnet as the day he lost it?

The next leader of Barnet Council?

Cafe Buzz in North Finchley, hit by Barnet Parking charges

What qualities would you look for in a leader? Here's a few I'd go for. Charismatic, eloquent, passionate, caring and intelligent. What about for a local political leader? I'd go for someone who understands the area, is familiar with the local issues and someone who has backbone to stand up to council officials. Now here's the tricky bit. What about if they have to lead the Barnet Conservatives? This is a very damaged brand at the moment. The parking policies championed by Brian Coleman have alienated huge swathes of people who are natural Conservatives. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that their vote will go into meltdown before the next council election. The first big test of this will be the GLA elections where Brian Coleman is trying to hang on to his £50,000 a year job scrutinising the Mayor (yes, he gets £50K a year for a part time job, suggesting ways Boris could be a better mayor). So what sort of person could save them? Well if they had all of the qualities above, it would be a good start. However we are talking about leading a right of centre group. The natural domain of local government Conservatives is local business. Get someone with experience of running a local business. Get someone who understands the average High Street in Barnet and the people who use it. Get someone who understands that a strong small business sector is the only way to maintain a pleasant Borough. Most of all, get someone who will not stand by as local businesses are thrown to the wolves to plug the holes in the budget caused by management incompetence. A person with these skills, would no doubt also have the wherewithall to actually address the waste and incompetence within the council that this blog has spent nearly 4 years exposing.

On Tuesday morning, I attended a Business Breakfast, hosted by the current Leader of Barnet Council, Richard Cornelius. As detailed here, I thought it was a great meeting, not because anything actually happened, but there was at least a glimmer of a sign that Barnet have woken up to the fact that local business must listened to. The meeting was sold out. These people, who I guess were mostly natural conservatives, were incensed. The parking issue is killing many of their businesses and the council has no strategy whatsoever to address it. A speaker suggested that Barnet allow 1/2 hour free parking to boost the High Streets. The Leader of the Council, Richard Cornelius said "We can't do that, we'd lose £2 million in revenue". In effect, this was an admission that Barnet Council is unlawfully using parking as a cash cow.You see councils are not allowed to structure parking policy to raise funds, the purpose is to efficiently regulate traffic. As the High Street is a place where some people come to buy a pint of milk or buy a sandwich and a cup of tea (which takes 10 minutes and the spend is 50p - £3), whilst others come for a haircut or meal (or both - spending £50 -£300) and stay 3 or 4 hours, the policy is hugely discriminatory against a certain sector of retailers.When Richard Cornelius took over as Leader of the Council, I had assumed that as a small businessman (he runs a jewelry business), he'd understand. What he doesn't seem to grasp is that half the shops in the High Street are not dealing in a market where the average spend is several hundred pounds. Wheras a Jeweller like Richard can afford to give his customers a £2 parking voucher, because they are spending £2,000 on a diamond tiara, a cafe selling someone a cup of tea for 80p, would be losing £2 on the transaction. In answer to Richards comment about losing £2 million in revenue, the has wasted twenty times that amount on botched projects, bad investments and inept decisions over the last few years. They have lost up to £27.4 million in botched Icelandic investments (who knows what the real figure is, with lost interest etc), they overspent £11 million on the £12 million Aerodrome Road bridge replacement project. They have had to pay Catalyst Ltd £8 million because they have outsourced care homes with a badly drawn up contract. They have spent £26 million on their SAP procurement project, which former Leader Mike Freer said would cost £6 million. They have spent at least £5 million on consultants for the One Barnet project, over 4 years, to deliver savings, but all they have delivered is reports, suggesting more consultants reports. This week the Barnet Eye detailed how they were spending £374,000 to buy play equipment, which they are then going to put into storage for £10,000 a year. The list goes on, but I'm sure you get the idea.

There is no lack of money for pet projects that benefit no one, but a parking policy which would regenerate the High Streets, breath life into local shops and provide employment for local people (taking them off the dole and delivering tax income) would lead to a huge improvement in the economy of the Borough. Sadly, the leadership of the council just do not seem to get it. The parking charges are a stealth tax, full stop. As Conservatives, the Barnet Tories should recognise the fact that such taxes hurt businesses and jobs. They don't. It is time that the current crop of Conservatives admit that they are not up to the job. They should resign their seats and ask for local business people who do understand the local economy to replace them.

Going back to the meeting on Tuesday, one particular speaker stood out. Helen Michaels, who runs cafe Buzz stood up and wiped the floor with the parking policies of Barnet Council. Not only that, but when someone intervened to try and shut her up, virtually every member of the audience backed her. What was she arguing for? Sensible, business friendly policies.  She used the examples of old ladies, mums with kids and one off shoppers in a hurry to illustrate her point. It was unarguable. She ticked all of the boxes I listed at the head of this article. In a sane world (or at least a sane Borough), the Leader of the Council would be off to Cafe Buzz today, to sign her up as a Conservative candidate. If I was Richard, I'd parachute her into a safe seat and give her Brian Colemans cabinet job. Many people tell me Colemans one redeeming feature is that he's not afraid to speak his mind. Neither is Helen. The difference is she has business experience and cares about the locality. I doubt anything would make me personally vote Conservative, but if she replaced Coleman in the cabinet and scrapped his awful policies, I'm sure a lot of natural Tories who wouldn't currently touch them with a bargepole would swarm back. She is an example of someone who clearly would make a decent council leader, for all the reasons listed above.

I've no idea whether she'd even want to get involved, but she's the kind of person we need in Barnet politics. I spoke to her briefly yesterday, nothing to do with this. She told me that if she can't get the parking problems sorted out, it will kill our local high streets. She's right. The sad truth is that whilst Barnet Council needs a Leader like Helen Michaels, the chance of us ever getting one is probably more remote than me becoming the next Pope.

PS. I urge everyone who reads this blog to support their local High Street. Please use the local shops, cafe's and pubs. With petrol at it's current prices, a short walk to the local shop may actually be cheaper, if you add in the transport costs.

Guest Blog - North Finchley Business Forum – a few points that came up

By Paul Evans - 

(originally posted on Finchlinks - http://www.finchlinks.com/2011/10/north-finchley-business-forum-a-few-points-that-came-up/#more-303 )


Last night, I was at the North Finchley Business Forum meeting, hosted jointly by Barnet Council and a company called North London Business. It was interesting, and (up to a point) very positive.

Parking. It came up at the meeting, y'know?

It is the first in a series of meetings – the next one is pencilled in for late November (details to follow – join the LinkedIn group to stay in the loop).
There was a lot of good intentions from the council officers there, and some potentially interesting developments for the area surrounding a bid to the Lord Mayor’s Outer London Fund, a subject that I’ll return to another day soon here.
North London Business appear to be instrumental to the continuing energy around the meetings and, presumably, any bidding that is done. They say that they’ve a budget of £300.00 to do the research that they handed out at the meeting (details to follow), the publicity, and four meeting (including last night’s one). That’s a lot to do for that budget.
Predictably, and understandably, the meeting was dominated with barely supressed rage about the parking situation – the ramped-up charges, the decision (which I’ve only just heard about) to remove all of the parking ticket machines so that they can only be bought online, with a mobile phone, and from selected shops.
I don’t think we need fortune telling-skills to know how that one is going to work out.
Either way, on the parking issue, leaving aside the policy issues, I think the biggest problem is the lack of human dialogue.
There’s a lot to disagree with in the policy itself (more here), but there are also a lot of simple suggestions that could be put to a human being who has the ability to open negotiations with local people on this issue. Ideas like ‘pay-for-what-you-use’ parking in the car-parks or the situation where North Finchley’s CPZ runs from 9am-5.30pm instead of the one-hour restriction elsewhere nearby.
As Cllr Schneiderman put it on Twitter…..

“Just attended N Finchley business forum – to say there was some anger about parking is putting it mildly! Officers left to take flak as usual”

We were, however, promised a higher-quality witness from the council on this subject at the next meeting.
Other highlights: Steve Murrant – the Enforcement Investigation Manager at the council (Google tells me he’s a former Chief Inspector, so mind how you go!) spoke about plans to discourage street-drinking, outlining an enforcement plan that he claimed had worked very well in Cricklewood and elsewhere. The meeting was urged to become more involved in the Safe Neighbourhood Team and in ‘Shopwatch’ – a meeting that takes place every three months (but one that had mixed reviews from the businesses in the room).
It was agreed that the police would be invited to come to the next meeting.
Also, the question of the Arts Depot came up. The possibility of it housing a library to replace proposed closures in North Finchley and Friern Barnet (outlined here by Cllr Rams with counter-commentary from Vicky here and as reported, with some scepticism, in Private Eye recently) and the anticipated ‘footfall’ that it would bring to the area was thought to be pertinent to The Bid.
But what about the venue’s role in helping to regenerate the area? Well, the meeting resolved to invite someone from the Arts Depot to the next meeting.
In summary, a lot came up, each issue worth a short article of it’s own.

• Parking (and parking, parking and parking!)
• The stats that we were given at the meeting (interesting – watch this space)
• The Bid
• The Arts Depot – the library and the wider role of the venue regenerating the area
• Anti-social behaviour, petty crime and making North Finchley feel safer

I’ll try and post a few of them here, but if you want to weigh in, please let me know!
One last thing though. Initiatives like this have been kicked off before, only to dissolve into nothing. A few people at the meeting offered examples to illustrate their frustration.
Personally, I like to stay as positive as possible on this kind of thing. I think that the meeting was handled very well and the officers at the Council were keen to do anything that they can to work with local businesses to improve the area. With someone there from the Council (on parking), the police and the Arts Depot, the next meeting should be worth going to.
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Paul Evans runs the Finchlinks Community blog, where this post is taken from. Finchlinks aims to promote local business and community. The Barnet Eye is always pleased to promote community based initiatives in the London Borough of Barnet

The Friday Joke : 9/11/2011

In the week when the CEO of Barnet, Nick Walkley erected huge billboards all around Barnet Councils North London Business Park, in an attempt to bully and intimidate staff, I must say I found it quite amusing to see this being plugged on the front page of the Barnet Council website. Is there a hidden message to our beloved CEO. Maybe I just have a sick sense of humour.

If you want a more traditional joke, try this.

Q: Why did the Barnet resident cross the road?

A: Because he couldn't park where he friggin well wanted to, having he left his mobile fone at home and bloody Brian Coleman has abolished all of the pay and display machines.

And here is my visual joke of the week - sums up the attitude of Barnet Council to association football and Barnet FC.

Have a simply spiffing Friday night and don't forget to tell all the people you love, just how much you love them.

Brian Coleman sneaks through cashless parking in Barnet whilst London burns

It is truly unbelieveable. Brian Coleman has snuck through the abolition of pay and display parking in Barnet, whilst everyone is on holiday. He signed the order last Friday. This has been done under delegated powers, with no democratic debate whatsoever. From September, there will be no pay and display machines in Barnet.

The full details are here :-
http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/reports/reportdetail.asp?ReportID=10559

Even local Tories are shocked. One promenant local Tory and former councillor said

"This is going to be a political catastrophe and revenue is going to SLUMP. Mark my words, this is poll tax on wheels... If the SPA income increases it won't be from parking fees but fines"

Brian Coleman must be the only Londoner who wlecomed the riots as he probably thought we were all looking the other way and he could sneak this through and we wouldn't notice. If you notice, the issue date is the 10th August (see dates on the report here - very fishy)

According to the date on the report, Coleman signed this on the Friday 5th, the day before the riots started, but it supposedly took the council until Weds 10th to actually publish the report. Rather interesting timing. I would say I smell a rat, but we all know they are in the Barnet Council datacentre chomping away on the cables.