Streetlife

I think there is a very good reason for the change; to squeeze more money out of the beleagured motorist.

We have a junction at one end of our estate where we cannot drive into our homes before 10am each weekday morning; a very sore point.  It was originally set up to stop rat running while the underpass was constructed on the A13 many years ago; obviously not the same situation any more but they won't bring the times forward.

Anyway before Christmas the bollards stopped working so cars were coming through and being caught on camera which was set up to monitor a bus lane.  Thing is every sign up informing that you can't do this before 10am is on the wrong side of the road, possibly deliberately and there is no sign at the entrance, where there always used to be before Tfl ruined this whole road, plus there is no warning that CCTV covers the junction, which I believe is a legal requirement.

Under FOI I requested to know how much the council had raked in since January this year until late June: an astonishing £78,000+.  Not a bad little earner for not putting the right signs in the right places.

Of course anyone who fought the PCNs won the case because it was all a farce but unfortunately most people will just pay up in case the fine goes up.

Same with parking zones; the council are trying to enforce them where they are definitely not required.  It comes down to the few of us to fight and rally the neighbours against these preposterous proposals.

Neil
I suppose that we should be grateful that the new scratch cards for visitors has only doubled the price of their parking and that there is only one price for each vehicle!
Why have they not brought out a range of scratch cards which increase in cost proportional to the emmisions of the visitors car!
In relation to the scratch card v the old orange printed card;Even if the council did not have the ability or inclination to keep the printing in house they could, I'm sure, have secured a good and reasonable deal with some small,maybe struggling printer to produce these cards. Being once again synical perhaps that would have shown to much committment to supporting local business. Where do the scratch cards come from ?

As they appear to be selling these scratch cards, could we not also have a chance to win a prize on them to make it all seem so much more user friendly???

Just a thought as your last message Ken made me laugh.

I am now concerned over this such open pandora box. I was informed they may put parking permis in our road becuase our road is always busy on fridays due to local m moved in osque parking.  We were also told these would be free but with everything how long would that be before they want to collect revenue.  Iwas ticketed outside where I lived where this is no restrictions and told it was because i was half on half off. I appealed as I had only just moved  in after moving away from asbo tenants.  If anything I think they shoud pay some compensation for my family having to move and the costs I had to pay to move. Wheres the justice in that. I also think you should have the right to protest .

Linda J
Why did you have to move if your neighbours were the subject of ASBO? If that is the case maybe its because you were the easy option to deal with?
As far as 'the right to protest' goes...... I would like to have the right to protest but I would far prefer not to have to use it !

Can I also ask where do they get the running times from for these zones?

Ours runs till 21:30 every night, why on earth does it have to be that late?

We dont have a problem with people wanting to park in our area there is nothing near by to warrent people wanting to park.

Im sure LBBD would say the reason we have no parking problems is because of the restrictions that are in place in place!

I believe these ridiculous times also extend to weekends.  Near our estate there are roads that have parking permits for absolutely no reason.  The council word their letters on this subject very carefully so it looks as though you have a designated space outside your front door to park and this misleads people to vote for the permit.

I'm sure if enough people complained the situation could be reversed; I believe it did happen in one area in the borough but I'm not sure which one.

I think in all permit areas you should have a 1 or 2hrs visiting time allowance for engineers or family who are just passing.

I have noticed this in some places but not all.

Again who decides what regulations are used where?

Neil
A good question. As to 'who decides what rgulations are used where ?' I can only assume that it is the mandarins within the town hall.

With regard to your common sense based suggestion for having an allowance for visitors/engineers this looks like another non-starter.

The coucil published cost for an essential workers permit is £150. I recently had a nurse call at my home to provide post operative care and she was concerned as she had not got a permit for a replacment car she had to use.

For Doctors the fee is £250 and for business permits it is £235 (on street only)  WHY ?

That is really disgraceful; certain services should be above needing permits but of course we've all heard of ambulances, fire engines and even hearses being given parking tickets by jobsworths!

There's no such thing as road tax. What car owners pay each year is vehicle excise duty and the money raised from it goes into the general pot and is not exclusively spent on anything to do with roads.

How can you have the exclusive  right to park outside your own house? When you go out in your car, you wouldn't be able to park outside someone else's house (as only they could) and no-one else would be able to park outside yours (as only you could).

I dont thnk there are many people who think the space outside their house is their parking space exclusively.

What most would like is to be able to park quite close though.

Colin N
You obviously miss the point. No one is asking or expecting the exclusive right to park outside their house. Read earlier comments ! Secondly Road Tax or Vehicle excise duty is a national government issue  and the controversy over how funds, rasied by this tax/duty, are spent will continue at that level. The local issue which this thread initially and continues to relate to is of other concerns. If you have a vehicle, how much did your tax/duty increase as a percentage of the cost of the previous tax/duty ? You didn't paythe tax/duty to park, you bought it to comply with current government legislation and for the ability to DRIVE on the road or to leave it on a publid highway. Residents Parking Permits do not afford the holder the 'privilege' to use the highway.

Neil B wrote "We pay road tax shouldnt that allow us to park outside our own home." How have I missed the point?

Allowing or making it possible for someone to park outside (or near) their home entails preventing or deterring others from parking there. There's a cost involved in doing that and I see no reason why the cost shouldn't be borne by those who directly benefit from the service.

So the question is, does the VED that motorists already pay raise enough £ to cover the services it ought to cover .  The answer seems to be "no"; according to the Instiute of Fiscal Studies:

“Road use generates costs which are borne by wider society instead of the motorist.” and “These ‘externalities’ mean that in the absence of taxation or pricing, there is an inefficiently high level of road use. Taxes can help bring private demands into line with the socially desirable level. Several different externalities are associated with motoring. Some, like carbon emissions from burning petrol and diesel, are easily addressed through fuel duties as the costs depend entirely on fuel use. Others, notably congestion but also the costs of noise and accidents, vary enormously according to where and when someone drives.”Source: http://ipayroadtax.com/

Maybe a sarcastic smiley face after my comment would have given everyone the correct idea of what I meant.

Some realised some didnt :-) Sorry for the confusion Colin

What I was getting at was why do people have to pay to park in their own road

Well obviously we shouldn't have to.  We are though the most heavily taxed country in Europe and I thought we were supposed to be in the EU on a level playing field!  No such luck.

Colin N Rather than posting paronising responses to other users and submitting quotes various websites from where you got your information why not post an opinion which  may be more interesting and useful ?
You missed the point because up until your input no one was discussing VED/Road Fund Licence/Road fund licence. That is a separate yet worthwhile topic.
You also  declined or failed to respond as to whether you have calculated the percentage increase in VED/RFL................

No I have not calcuated the percentage increase in anything.

My opinion is that VED should be abolished and the tax shortfall made up by higher tax on fuel. This will encourage people to use less fuel. In rural areas where people have to drive further it will encourage the use of local amenties.

I don't think that's a good idea; higher fuel tax (and don't forget we pay almost the highest in Europe anyway) will hit absolutely everything, not just the everyday motorist.

How can people in rural areas use what isn't there.  Every village doesn't necessarily have a shop that stocks all they need.

This is not about parking permits, but parking in the front garden without a dropped kerb, I do not think it is fair on the people that have paid a lot to the council to have one and their neighbour has not bothered , some have even had the cheek to concrete the whole garden over to park on.. It is in some roads mashing up the walkways and some people have two cars parked up, from my house to the shops which is a 10minute walk I counted 11 that had no run ups. Don't the council do anything about this...

Linda
I feel that your observations raise two separate but related issues.

I completely agree that it is unfair that having paid for a dropped kerb (cost about £800) that others park on thier own front gardens without forked out for this privilege. It is an offence, I'm not sure whether it is covered by Road Traffic legislation or is just a by-law, to drive across the pavement which is sometimes enforced by the LBBD. 

I am aware of one instance where a neighbour of mine was quite rightly threatened with legal action by LBBD for doing just that.

In relation to concreting the whole of the garden I do not believe that there are any rules in relation to this unless of course it is covered by planning rules which would apply to both owner occupiers and tenants.

I'm sure that we will see more instances of parking within the bounds of the property without having a dropped kerb to avoid paying the new fees for residents parking permits

Just opened my post this morning to find a response from LBBD to my complaint over the CPZ fees.
Unsuprisingly they state that is not an issue which falls within the complaints proceedure because it is a policy matter which is agreed by members.

Apparently 'Councillors were consulted and approved the price review for the borough as they support the need to reduce the Boroughs carbon emmissions.'

Most of the letter was dedicated to saying that it is a success policy used in other London boroughs and how they have frozen the Council tax for the fourth year......................... What a load of b******s.

How on earth are they going to reduce carbon emissions when you have one of the busiest roads in the country running right through it (A13)

What a joke! I swear they just make it up as they go along, perhaps we should ask the Govt. to move it!

Don't see why carbon emissions can't be reduced on A13.

They, or at least Boris is trying, there are emission sensors along the A13 and I belive they are within the borough boundaries but they are ultimatley for the benefit of the inner London boroughs. A policy that in principle it is difficult to argue against.

I wonder how many vehicles either in the fleet or used by contractors to the LBBD are green. I take into account that the larger vehicles ie dustcarts can only be powered by high emission fuels. Bring back the horse andcart and the electric milk float !