with thanks to thisisnorthkensington.wordpress.com

Comments

DAMESATHOME@GMAIL.COM
send the Dame your information, discretion assured.
Comments are welcome but do not necessarily reflect the view of the Dame.
Offensive/inappropriate comments will be deleted and the poster banned.

Sunday 14 February 2021

RESIDENTS PARKING CHARGES HIKE: AN ATTACK ON WORKERS


 


Dame 

This huge rise in parking my 16-year-old car is anti-working folk. 

You, Dame, can take the increase without batting an eyelid. 

We struggling working people cannot.

The rise is anti-working class. To do this when the pandemic threatens our livelihoods is disgustingly cynical.

From April Fools Day the Council has increased the cost of parking my car from £122 to £261 when I and thousands are struggling to make ends meet. 

That’s a 100% increase!!!!

This Council promised to consult and understand the needs of ordinary people like me. 

Well, they fooled me.....ONCE!

To add insult to financial injury some council idiot tells me if I have £30k to burn they will let me park my electric car for nothing. 

Town Hall Tories don’t understand how ordinary people live. 

It's Grenfell all over again.

To add insult to injury the ULEZ charge of £15 a day comes on top for the likes of me who have cars made pre 2005 or diesels post 2015. 

And I just changed my 26-year-old car for a 16-year-old car to comply with the threshold.

Cllr Thalassites says that the aim of the tax is to reduce pollution

 

Rubbish! 

Residents’ cars are less than 1% of RBKC pollution.


We are a transit Borough: pollution comes from buses, taxis, vans, trucks, and cars passing through from the M4, M40, and other trunk roads to and from central London. 

Transit vehicles are moving on our streets all of the time. 

Residents' vehicles are used infrequently (I use my car once a week, and travel around London on the tube or bus)

Resident traffic is tiny compared to what transits the Borough.

This is an opportunist tax.


There has been no Impact Analysis Study. It is an abuse of power to raise taxes from financially hard-pressed residents by parading under a “save the world” banner.

 

Resident Parking Permits should be treated exactly as they say...parking for residents who pay Council Tax. 

And charged at cost. 

Which is about £11 per permit, including administration. 

Transport policy should not, and cannot, be the responsibility of piecemeal Borough Councils.

 

This rise is a calculated attack upon poorer residents under the pretext, “we are helping to save the planet". 

 

REGARDS

 

A NORTH KENSINGTON WORKING MAN WITH A FAMILY TO SUPPORT

29 comments:

  1. The rise using pollution is a way of getting around the High Court refusal to allow Barnet Council to hike charges.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kensington Resident14 February 2021 at 21:38

      There is a complete breakdown of democracy in Hornton Street. Tory back benchers are fed up that they are being ignored and tell me that the Officers have taken control. The Leader has abdicated all political responsibility and just wants to feel important in Office

      Delete
    2. Kensington Resident could be right. I wrote to my Ward Councillors (Tory) to complain and have had no reply. My guess is that they are embarrassed.

      Delete
  2. The Residents Parking Permit should not be used as a mechanism to raise tax. A few weeks ago there was a consultation about this idea and I replied that resident cars make a negligent contribution to overall vehicle emissions and Council Tax payers should not be penalised further. So far as I can determine everyone that I know also voiced opposition
    for a variety of reasons including the wrong timing, penalising the poor and bad politics. I would like to see the results of the consultaion and also the Impact Analysis showing what difference the tax will make to pollution levels in RBKC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This all about the Lead Member for the Environment, Cllr Thalassites, a young man who is desperate to get noticed and make a name for himself. He is the new Rock Fielding-Mellen in the Tory flock. Nothing wrong with juvenile ambition but the so called Leader of RBKC, Cllr dizzy Campbell, should be mentoring, guiding and channeling her councillors. And exercising some political judgement. Unfortunately she does not have a clue about leadership. She just puffs. A puffer

      Delete
    2. Time for a refresh in the Town Hall. Tory Councillors need to replace Cllr Campbell and elect a person with Leadership quailities

      Delete
  3. When will the lesson of Grenfell get through to the Tory elite in Hornton Street? Council tenants in North Kensington do not have £30k to £40k hanging around in the bank to buy an electric car. Unlike the Tories in Sloane Square they need to make do with older cars and get by. This is not the way for them to keep MP Buchan in Parliament

    ReplyDelete
  4. If the Campbell birdbrains had an ounce of intelligence they would figure out that the way to encourage less pollution is to tax vehicles on a usage basis. ie when they are driving. The 80% tax on petrol does this. The £15/day ULEZ charge does this. The £12/day congestion does this. But, dear dizzy, a PARKED car does not cause pollution. Try your hardest to figure it out.

    ReplyDelete
  5. THINK I WILL VOTE FOR IAN HENDERSON14 February 2021 at 22:16

    F******g Tories. And the MP Buchan goes on and on about being a Electric Vehicle champion. Probably got a Tesla too....makes me sick. I need my old car to take my kids out. It's not a luxury

    ReplyDelete
  6. The headline was cheaper parking permits. But again there is not a lot of truth in that. My 6 year old small sensible car - a Toyota Yaris used to be £120 for the permit now it is £140. How is that cheaper and what has changed in the emissions for this car? I agree the huge number of great big Chelski tractors in the borough need to be dealt with. Ordinary people are being shafted again by the Council.

    ReplyDelete
  7. What does the age of a car have to do with the cost of a Parking Permit? The Council might just as well charge extra Council Tax for people who are overweight or ugly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Person Familiar With The Situation15 February 2021 at 12:18

      RBKC has no plans to tax obese people. However Officers have been asked to study Council Tax increases for homes with occupants who are more than 75 years old and for homes with children under the age of 16. This is necessary to offset budget shortages and the elderly and children add considerable cost to the average household

      Delete
    2. Cllr Thalassites cooked this up. A young and inexperienced Councillor who is desperate to grandstand. No mentoring or guidance from the Leader, Cllr Campbell. She has failed her Office, her Party and her colleagues. A waste of space

      Delete
  8. I would support an increase in Council Tax for persons of Irish origin. And papists.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Silly comment from Kensington. However I would support an increase in Council Tax for dog owners. They foul the pavements and make a nuisance in blocks of flats

      Delete
    2. Dogs or owners?

      Delete
  9. Freedom Of Information data reported that there were 48k Resident Permits in 2019. And the revenue was £6 million. That is an average cost £125 per Parking Permit.

    The data above suggests that parking charge revenue in 2021 will be more than £12 million.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Only 48k Resident Parking Permits!!

      The pollution from this small number of parked cars is insignificant compared to the millions of trucks, taxis, vans, deliveroo, buses, UBER et al driving on RBKC roads 24/7. Too many Councillors and Officers with not enough to do. And making mischief.

      Delete
  10. Cars are an essentila part of modern households. Just like washers, fridges, cookers and beds. Resident Parking Permits should be given out free to residents and the cost absorbed by Council Tax. Just like dustbins.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Everyone uses bins - universal service.

      Non car owners shouldn't subsidise car owners.

      Delete
    2. Non car owners do not subsidise drivers in any form.

      This is revenue raising from Cllr. Johnny Thalassites trying to get in on the green act before Sadiq Khan get his name in the papers after his bollards got removed.

      Nitram now and before how are you subsiding drivers?

      Elaborate!

      Delete
  11. New tax comes into force on April Fool's day. Says it all

    ReplyDelete
  12. Tory candidate to be Mayor of London, Shaun Bailey,is campaigning to abolish the ULEZ tax in West London. RBKC Environment Councillor Thassilites has just introduced a tax to make the ULEZ more draconian. Do they belong to the same Party?

    Cllr Campbell, are you awake??

    ReplyDelete
  13. Retired Chief Executive16 February 2021 at 13:37

    Old, inexpensive, polluting cars that are not used much is a perfect value proposition for poor families in North Kensington. Their low use does not make any difference to pollution levels. If you force these families to spend £30k on an electric car it will destroy their fragile home budget. And lead to more crime, state handouts and hardship.

    If these cars are used more intensively, causing more pollution, then the cost of petrol and maintenance will nudge the owners to buy more modern and less polluting vehicles.

    If there are only 48k resident cars then this is insignificant compared with the high level of vehicles in transit through the Borough. The complex new resident parking charges, and their administration, is a job creation programme for Town Hall staff.

    The statement that every home has an electric charging point within 200 meters is a comfortable middle class perception for well off Sloane Square residents. It is irrelevant for people living in high rise blocks in North Kensington with 600 dwellings. Charging points will never be a viable option.

    Resident Parking Permits should be what they are stated to be. Using them as a taxation instrument to help deliver different policies creates ambiguity and undermines Leadership. It results in cynicism about the Government process and leads to a breakdown of law and order.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Is this not an attempt to make up for lost revenue? Finding a space in respark areas round here used to be difficult - now, so many properties have been converted to AirBnB that the resparks are half empty, representing a substantial loss of income for the council.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I use my car for work; taxed through the nose by DVLA & now Khan; this is running into thousands before you even any petrol.

    This sounds good at Bristol Uni union debate but in practice is just stealing money from residents already hard pressed especially during a pandemic; it's is insensitive and careless.

    When Conservatives need as much support after how they dealt with pandemic last year on top of residents not trusting them over planning issues.

    MPs for Chelsea and Kensington need to wake up to this. They can't sit ont heir laurels that they will be voted back in next year. Any one planning to stand at Holland Ward in 2022 can use Thalassites' Tax as a reason not to vote Conservative.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Your correspondents all seem to forget that the majority of the borough's residents do not own cars - So why don't we just regard the permit charge as a tax on those who choose to pollute us. There are thousands of premature deaths every year in London because of atmospheric pollution. time for the petrol/diesel engines to be taxed out of existence . Well done Johnny !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So formal 'correspondents'. Is that you John Boi?!

      If you care about the enviroment why are you not taxing vehicles that come through the borough not the residents who are not going anywhere during a pandemic.

      Why was this not put to residents before it was approved? Would it be unpopular?

      Unclear how this money will help the enviroment, where will it go to?

      If this is Cllr. Thalassittes it proves that you are penalising those who own cars in the borough which is this not a breach in the equality act 2010?

      You should know it they teach it at Law school!

      Delete
  17. And presumably the argument is that resident's parked cars don't pollute K&C, but once they move they pollute other boroughs they drive through (the transient traffic argument). If *every* borough doubled their residents parking charge then *everyone* would benefit from the overall reduced car usage.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are your responsibility. Anyone posting inappropriate comments shall have their comment removed and will be banned from posting in future. Your IP address may also be recorded and reported. Persistent abuse shall mean comments will be severely restricted in future.