What We Have Achieved So Far.

The Barnet CPZ Action group has been quite quiet over the past months while we wait for next month's court hearing, so we thought we'd remind you of some of the things we have achieved:

1. It took a long time, but, back in the autumn, the Council made an important concession when they introduced half day visitor vouchers.  Priced at £2.20 each, they are still expensive - some residents in neighboring boroughs pay as little as 60p for visitor parking.  But £2.20 is a lot better that £4.16.  For residents living in zones with 1 hour restrictions, the cost of visitor parking has been nearly halved.

2. The council has also not implemented some additional CPZ increases put forwarded by Councillor Brian Coleman before he lost his cabinet position on the council.  Councillor Coleman wanted to make CPZ residents pay £20 when they changed their car as well as wanting to charge for temporary parking dispensations when, for example, a resident uses a courtesy car for a few days.  Following Brian Coleman's emphatic defeat at the London Assembly elections, the Council realised that these unfair policies risked bringing the council into the disrepute.

3. Anger over Brain Coleman's damaging parking policies (remember he also hiked parking charges on the High Street and removed "pay and display" machines) were a major factor behind his London Assembly defeat.

4. We learnt that the CPZ charges the council introduced were far higher than those recommended by its own consultants who the council had appointed to advise on this very question.

5. Did Barnet Council think that, because CPZs are spread out across disparate parts of the borough, there wouldn't be any effective opposition to the charges?  If so, they were wrong.  Our campaign has united CPZ residents, and many non-CPZ residents, from all corners of the borough.

6. The campaign has featured on national and local TV and radio and in the national and local press. We've helped raise awareness of the problems CPZ residents face through being a captive market.  

7. We've assembled a quality legal team to take the case forward under "no-win, no fee" agreements, reflecting their confidence in the case.  Thanks to a supporter who obtained internal council papers under the Freedom of Information Act, we also learnt that the council are confident WE will win. Council papers record  a Barnet CPZ Action victory at court to be "likely".  

Let the Government know what you think of Barnet's parking policies

The Transport Select Committee of the House of Commons has issued a consultation asking what people think about local authority parking policies. We suspect there may be a disproportionate response from Barnet residents.

Anyone can submit their views but this will need to be done by Monday 25 March.  Details of the consultation can be found here. 
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/transport-committee/news/parking-enforcement---tor/

Among the issues that Barnet residents may wish to raise are:

• The unfairness of CPZ residents being held to ransom by huge increases in permit charges, knowing that the council is deliberately creating a huge financial surplus in order to  help pay for travel passes and road resurfacing for the whole borough. 
• The folly of removing all cash pay and display ticket machines, making the simple act of parking to pop into a shop inconvenient and confusing for many people.
• Hiking high street parking charges to levels more suited to city centres or inner London boroughs. This has been done at a time when other councils (such as Haringey) are introducing free parking for short periods in order to support their high streets.

Whatever your views, it's important that they are heard. Please find 30 minutes before 25 March in order to take part.

Don't forget: You can now buy half day visitor vouchers

Under pressure from angry residents, the Council introduced half day visitor vouchers last year at a cost of £2.20 each. Still VERY expensive but better than the absurd flat charge of £4.16 for a standard voucher!  Residents in zones which operate for just one or two hours a day will now only need these cheaper vouchers.

But reports reach us that residents are having difficulty selecting these cheaper vouchers when they apply online or on the phone. We are trying to get to the bottom of what the problem is but it may be that Barnet's clunking IT system has residents registered as being entitled to all day vouchers and is defaulting to that.  We will update you when we know more but in the meantime, if you only need half day vouchers, make sure you don't pay the full price. Call 020 8359 7446 if in doubt.

Survey Launched of East Finchley CPZ

Finchley and Golders Green MP, Mike Freer, has launched a survey seeking views from residents of East Finchley's all day CPZ.  You can complete the survey here:

 https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FR3FVQ8

The initiative is surprising given that Mike Freer has long argued that he has no role in or power over Barnet Council's parking policies.  The fact that Mr Freer now recognises that, as an elected representative, he should seek to address his residents' concerns even if they relate to Council business, is to be welcomed.

But there is one glaring omission in the survey.  There is no mention of cost.  The survey only asks for views about the CPZ's operational hours.

Some residents, because of their particular circumstances, will want either long or short operational hours irrespective of cost.  Factors will be how many visitors they have and how close they live to East Finchley High Road.

But for many residents, the question whether they prefer long hours (which will mean buying a lot of visitor vouchers) or short hours (and therefore buying few) will inevitably depend on cost.  After all,   few people can countenance paying what until very recently was a minimum of £4.16 for each visitor. 

We encourage you to complete Mr Freer's survey if you are affected but it's unfortunate that he has not grasped the nettle of cost.  After all, it's possible many residents would accept or even welcome long, all day restrictions if the charges were reasonable?  And wouldn't Barnet Council receive just as much revenue selling a lot of cheap visitor vouchers as selling a few very expensive ones?