15 March (Part 1) - Residents’ Parking Permits
All the figures in this item have come from Councillor Craske (TLC)
and included in the minutes of the council meeting of 2nd March. According to Craske his doubled (soon to triple)
cost of parking a car within a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) has resulted in a flood of extra customers.
Between 2009 and 2010 the number of residents’ permits fell from 3871 to 3081 but apparently the price hike
was so popular that the number immediately rose by 20% and visitors’ permits by 40%. Nice round figures
don’t you think? Craske says that this is due to the big improvement in the country’s economic fortunes;
which is not what government figures show but in pygmy-land maybe…
Again according to TLC, his policy of increasing parking charges is very
popular and “supported by two thirds of Bexley residents”. Yes he really had that
colossal bit of wishful thinking put into the minutes! Did he take a poll or is he lying again?
What could possibly have caused this big increase in demand for CPZ parking spaces? Have people with drives and
concreted front gardens suddenly gone all eco-friendly and replaced them with rose beds? Not that I have noticed.
Has there been a massive increase in car ownership encouraged by low fuel costs? I’ve not noticed that either.
Has the extra pressure on available CPZ space caused intolerable congestion; again, I don’t think so.
The discontent reported in the local papers must have been made up by mischievous journalists. So what
is the real reason for this very sudden popular stampede of Bexley residents queuing up to pay more money than ever before?
Better ask Craske to tell the truth this time. Oh, someone already has. Let’s see what numbers he makes up next.