Is this the most damming evidence yet?

Is this the most damming evidence yet? Please read

As many of you will know, our legal case turns on showing that the CPZ increases are designed merely to raise revenue, which is not permitted under the Road Traffic Regulation Act.

We have quite a lot of evidence (internal Barnet council emails, letters to residents and internal budget papers) which I believe shows clearly that what Barnet is doing is shifting as much of the costs of road maintenance away from rate payers and on to CPZ residents. In this regard, the following is I think quite shocking:

As part of its budget for next year Barnet have published a list of cuts that they will make to services which are funded from the general rates fund. Buried in this is the surprising fact that £1.5 million is to be cut from the Highways Maintenance Budget. The following is noted against this huge cut:" Could damage highways infrastructure if money is not reintroduced into the base budget".

But the good residents of barnet need not worry! The roads will be repaired next year because, turn over the page and, hey presto, £1.81 million magically reappears courtesy of the increased CPZ charges which Barnet say is earmarked for spending on roads.

So Barnet's modus operandi is as follows:

·          Create a crisis in the Highways Budget by cutting it savagely, saving ratepayers £1.5m

·          Solve the crisis by jacking up charges in CPZs and transferring the surplus to the Highways Budget.

·          End result: The roads are repaired and the rates are kept down. It’s a win-win (unless of course you are in the tiny minority who need parking permits)            

If you'd like to be sent a copy of the budget documentation which shows all this, please email barnetcpz@gmail.com