14 October (Part 3) - Glass and Greed
The next item on the Places Agenda was Hall Place where the glass house is
closed because of the cost of maintenance and heating. Staff numbers have been
cut, the Butterfly House remains shut and there are no fish left in the ponds.
Councillor Lucia-Hennis asked the obvious question;
if the plants have not simply died they must have been watered and kept warm so
why no public entry. Answer came there none.
Councillor James Hunt asked “when are we going to start managing Hall Place
properly? The contrast with Danson House managed by another authority is
concerning. There is too much red tape”.
The consensus seemed to be that there is simply not enough staff or money
available to promote Hall Place properly and even if there was it would be a
long term project. At the moment “Bexley is only chipping around the edges”.
(Manager’s apologetic comment.)
From one disappointment the Chairman moved on to another. Car parking.
Councillor
Cameron Smith said the money raised (£118,000) in the Felixstowe Road car park is only a quarter of the
£461,000 anticipated and the “ridiculous” £15 for Liz line commuters is a deterrent. (Who would have guessed
with Sainbury’s
next to the station at a third of the price?)
Gayton Road carpark, only 100 yards away, is however relatively popular. (No one
mentioned that Gayton Road has a direct access point from the main road while Felixstowe Road is half a mile further away by congested road, over two almost
permanently red pedestrian crossings, via a 20 m.p.h. limit and a meandering residential road.)
“Sainsbury’s may be a factor” and Cameron may be right. Their car park was
completely full yesterday at around 1:30 and their ANPR camera has
not obviously worked since the
Harrow Manorway road reconstruction in 2019.
(Registration number used to display; it doesn’t any more.)
Councillor Cameron Smith had clearly studied the issues closer than most. He
recognised that Council car parks must be competitive with others especially around
railway stations and that the drop in the number of commuters
post-Covid was hitting revenue hard.
However the Council’s car park in Bexley village is more expensive than
Southeasternְ’s and the big stores do not charge at all. “Our offer is not
particularly good and charging in small shopping areas drives people away.”
Only three years after Councillors were saying
another 30%
on parking fees is only pennies we have
a Councillor bright enough to understand the Law of Diminishing Returns.
Cameron advocated a trial of 30 minutes, but preferably an hour, of free parking
around the smaller shopping areas. Nuxley Road (Belvedere), Thanet Road (Bexley
Village) and Mill Road (Northumberland Heath) were
suggested. The cost would be minimal at around £8,000 and would provide valuable
data on parking habits and a different parking model.
(Should I mention that Bexley’s smallest and largely forgotten shopping area backs on
to the Gayton Road car park? Will the Wilton Road traders miss out?)
Chloe Wenbourne the parking manager said that there were difficult practical and
technical problems with free parking periods. It could only be done via the phone app.
Chairman Cheryl Bacon recognised that bumping the charges up after the first few hours
(as in Felixstowe Road) “is not bringing in the income”.
How is it that everyone other than Councils can see the obvious?