Parking managers' seminar - why bother going?

Notes made by the typical parking manager

Those parking manager seminars organised by London Councils, the umbrella body for councils in London, which has certain statutory roles and others for lobbying, take place once a quarter. There is so much material in the June 16 meeting that Mr Mustard is still blogging about it (and there's more).

When he hit the buffers getting the minutes from London Councils he wrote to every council and asked many of them for the notes taken by whoever attended (they didn't have to be the actual parking manager) and he expected to receive pages of detailed notes given that the minutes were really just bullet points. Surely you couldn't go to such a meeting, when you know the minutes will be pretty thin, without taking detailed notes and then informing the rest of your team as to what happened. Some of the attendees might as well just have gone straight to the pub, rather than wait until after the meeting. Here is some information about what the representative for each borough made in the way of notes on the day and/or communicated to their colleagues:

Barking & Dagenham - One A4 page of clear notes. The funniest part "No significant adjudication, just general ramblings about how unfair the Adjudicators are (If motorists and councils are both unhappy the tribunal decisions are probably about right)

Bexley - One A4 page of clear notes.

City of London - A dozen lines of which five were about QR codes and the consensus was there is no appetite for them on PCN.

Enfield - Made no notes at the meeting or thereafter. Mr Mustard wonders how the attendee managed to remember anything that wasn't covered in the brief minutes. They might as well have stayed in Enfield.

Harrow - Made no notes at the meeting, there were two attendees. Mr Mustard wonders how the attendees managed to remember anything that wasn't covered in the brief minutes. They might as well have stayed in Harrow.

Hounslow - Made no notes at the meeting. Mr Mustard wonders how the attendee managed to remember anything that wasn't covered in the brief minutes. They might as well have stayed in Hounslow.

Lambeth - There were no notes made / retained by Lambeth Council at the meeting.

Lewisham - No notes made available to Mr Mustard so presumed there aren't any.

Merton - "Did not make any notes regarding or during the meeting." The attendee might as well have stayed in Merton.

Newham - 10 lines of scant notes.

Richmond - "Did not make any notes regarding or during the meeting." (the identical wording to Merton - perhaps they collaborated)

Waltham Forest - Made no notes at the meeting, there were two attendees. Mr Mustard wonders how the attendees managed to remember anything that wasn't covered in the brief minutes. They might as well have stayed in Waltham Forest.

Wandsworth - "There are no recoverable notes made by individual officers at the meeting."

They might as well have stayed in Wandsworth.

Mr Mustard will, on an unknown future date, ask again for the notes taken by attendees to these meetings. Wise managers would start to take some notes and communicate the interesting points of the meeting to their colleagues on return to their offices.

The public are paying for 30+ managers to get together for a chin wag, the least we can expect is some diligence and a 100% attendance from all councils in London.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard