1:01pm Thursday 24th March 2005
The letter from Councillor Matthew Offord (Parking budgets do not give guarantee of the year's income, March 10) makes me truly grateful for residing outside one of these much-debated controlled parking zones (CPZs).
I was under the misguided impression that these parking zones are established to allow smoother traffic and to keep unnecessary vehicles off the road, even if this is achieved at the expense of transferring shoppers from local shopping centres to the large supermarkets, which have free car parks attached to them.
The letter from the cabinet member for environmen, Mr Offord, makes it perfectly clear, however, that these restrictions are imposed chiefly, if not exclusively, to raise money.
It now emerges that parking budgets are estimates of how much money the more optimistic councillors think a certain area of the borough can be milked for. If these figures do not materialise, this is because the residents did not cough up as expected.
So, what do we do to redress this state of affairs?
Because £1.3 million of fines was not generated, we recruit more staff to address these issues, to ensure that the budgeted income for 2005-06 is met'. As it is just possible that the level of parking charges and fees demanded by penalty notices is so high as to discourage motorists from parking in our streets, near enough to make use of the local shops, a review of parking fees and charges has taken place which is aimed at encouraging increased use of parking facilities'.
This, surely, can mean only one thing: the charges have been drastically reduced. Or can it?
Karl Ruge
Friern Barnet Lane
Whetstone
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