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News and Comment January 2020

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22 January (Part 1) - Newham looks forward, Bexley looks backward

I have cut my number of cross river trips to three a week. I mainly use the train because the standard of driving in Newham is appalling. The people who sit behind the wheel in that area have no patience whatsoever and much prefer to apply thumb to horn than foot to brake. A few of the drivers can barely see where they are going behind their face coverings. And then there is Newham Council.

Like every every other rotten borough they have cameras pointing at almost faded away yellow boxes the location of which must be memorised because they are invisible in the rain or after dark. Their latest trick is to put access time restrictions on residential roads so you have to read each sign and check the time on approach.

Sooner or later a red light jumper or a Council camera will catch you out so late night emergencies aside I leave my car at home.

On the other hand Newham Council allows 30 free visitors parking permits a year to residents who do not own a car so I now have a stock of more than 50 and residents are given one free parking permit per household. Compare that to Bexley where Cabinet Member Peter Craske gave residents the most expensive permits in London back in 2011 (£120 a year in some locations) and justified the price with a tissue of lies. Bexley Council has not had the audacity to increase the price since but it is still twice as much as in Greenwich.

Like all good things Newham’s generosity is soon to come to an end. Their monthly magazine (fortnightly until very recently) has been hinting at parking charges for the past year and the Council recently consulted on the subject. Newham’s Cabinet confirmed in December that the consultation changed nothing and their plans will go ahead. All that remains unknown is the new charging schedule.
Newham Magazine
The charges will be hooked to the Green Agenda, that catch-all beloved of bureaucrats everywhere to justify increased taxes. Diesel cars will pay more than petrol powered cars and fully electric ones will be free. Second cars will be charged more and there will be a limit on the number of permits per household. Given how many residents cram into some houses in Newham I can imagine some having five cars and maybe a Council limit of three permits resulting in two people on the dole queue. It is part Communist and part Green but I am not sure there is a lot of difference between the two anyway. (These are example figures, the real limit has not yet been publicly stated.)

I have mixed views on free parking for electric cars. Nice for early adopters but it can’t go on for ever.

As Bexley has gone nearly ten years without changing its over-priced Residents Parking scheme can we look forward to them adopting the Green Agenda too? I can imagine Bexley Council thinking about charging more for diesels and maybe more for additional vehicles even though the number of cars a family needs is none of their damned business but a price reduction for electric cars would be anathema to the money grabbers and their pathetic response to street charging displays little enthusiasm for locally pollution free transport. Probably they will continue with the 2011 rip-off until it begins to look cheap.

For the record Bexley’s Council Tax is 26% higher than in Newham and most Newham houses are in the lower tax bands. Newham claims that only 50% of their residents run cars. Bexley has the highest level of car ownership in London.

 

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