Brian has it in hand ! or does he?

Mr Mustard does not sit around keeping his ideas to himself. If Mr Mustard thinks there is something which will improve the borough then he tells the person who can make a difference. Hence the below exchange on cashless parking which may be of interest to the two backbench councillors who are, according to a tweet from The Barnet Bugle, to make new proposals for parking. They may be knocking at an open door?

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To: Coleman, Cllr Brian Conservative

Sent: Fri Apr 15 12:28:18 2011

Subject: Cashless parking

Dear Councillor Coleman

I understand why you want to move the Borough to cashless parking and also why many people want to continue to pay using the universal medium of cash. 

The two separate camps could be easily reconciled.

Most of the CPZ zones have local shops in them. If parking vouchers which looked like the current visitor vouchers were available in the shops then Barnet Council could sell them in bulk to shopkeepers and pay in advance by credit card. Thus the Council would be cashless for on-street parking.

Motorists could still use cash to buy parking time ( there really are people without mobile phones and credit or debit cards you know ) and they could buy a stock of cards in advance if they are regular visitors to the Borough which would save them time and give the Council improved cashflow.

Local shops are struggling and this would give them a useful extra income stream from a, say, 5% commission deducted from the face value of the card.

I think that you personally would generate some useful positive publicity for the Borough if you were to introduce this additional way of paying.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

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The reply as ever was not overly long.

From: Coleman, Cllr Brian Conservative [mailto:Cllr.B.Coleman@barnet.gov.uk]
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 1:00 PM
To: Mr Mustard
Subject: Re: Cashless parking

Thank you

Already in hand !

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Four months later when Mr Mustard didn't see any sign of activity on this score, in fact the very opposite the proposed removal of pay & display machines, he wrote on 11 August

Dear Mr Coleman

I refer to your email of 15 April 2011. 

I rather thought that by now I would have seen some sort of announcement by the council about this idea of mine of parking vouchers and given the current focus on regenerating High Streets this idea would be timely.

Is the idea going ahead please and if so, when can I expect to see an announcement?

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Since which time there has been radio silence. Mr Mustard thinks that Cllr Coleman is in fact in favour of accepting other methods of payments, ones which don't involve the council in accepting cash, but allow customers to use cash, and is still working out how to effect this transformation. Hopefully with the help of the two backbenchers he will be able to work it out.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

A one-man performance appraisal system - I don't think it will catch on

As you know from reading my blog each directorate of the council gets a quarterly performance appraisal which is a process entirely conducted within the council (as far as Mr Mustard is aware).

Mr Mustard will be bringing you the report on the newly formed Environment, Planning and Regeneration directorate's performance overview in the next few days but thought that you might like to see first of all what Cllr. Brian Coleman, a member of the Cabinet made of it. The members of the cabinet are in effect senior councillors, the kind from whom one would normally expect to receive words of wisdom and leadership.

Parking is part of this Directorate. You will have to judge for yourself what effect this performance appraisal will have on staff morale and whether that is the sort of leadership you might want to use in your own organisation. 

Is it the sort of language that should be used in the council chamber? 

Barnet's Parking Service is a "Pile of Crap" from The Barnet Bugle Ltd on Vimeo.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Barnet expects that every traffic warden will do their duty

Now Mr Mustard does know that Civil Enforcement Officers aren't called traffic wardens any more but readers know what he means and so he is going to use that description throughout this posting.

Mr Mustard would also like to apologise most profusely to all his readers. 

Not only has Mr Mustard amended the line "England expects that every man will do his duty" which was a signal sent by Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson from his flagship HMS Victory as the Battle of Trafalgar was about to commence on 21 October 1805, but Mr Mustard is now about to talk about Councillor Brian Coleman in the same sentence. 

You can compose your own epithet but Mr Mustard is thinking National Hero, Local Zero for some unfathomable reason.

Cllr. Coleman's expectations are such that Mr Mustard thinks that he may well meet his Waterloo very soon.

What does central government say about targets for traffic wardens? The following guidance is from the Operational Guidance to Local Authorities: Parking Policy and Enforcement issued by the Department of Transport and updated in November 2010.

3.6 CPE is a means of achieving transport policy objectives. For good governance, enforcement authorities need to forecast revenue and expenditure in advance. But raising revenue should not be an objective of CPE, nor should authorities set targets for revenue or the number of Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) they issue.

3.7 The judgement in R v LB Camden (ex parte Cran) made clear that the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 is not a revenue raising Act.

3.8 Enforcement authorities should run their CPE operations (both on- and off-street13) efficiently, effectively and economically. The purpose of penalty charges is to dissuade motorists from breaking parking restrictions.

The objective of CPE should be for 100 per cent compliance, with no penalty charges. Parking charges and penalty charges should be proportionate, so authorities should not set them at unreasonable levels. Any penalty charge payments received (whether for on-street or off-street enforcement) must only be used in accordance with section 55 (as amended) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.

And Cllr Coleman what does he do ? He has a weekly meeting with the parking "service" at which he asks how many tickets have been issued. That one question alone puts pressure on those in charge of parking. So what targets are traffic wardens set each day?

This is what the council website says :

There are no “targets” for the number of tickets a Civil Enforcement Officer must issue. We simply require that our Officers, when on duty, issues penalties to vehicles observed in contravention.

No mention of sensibly using a traffic warden's discretion but a requirement to issue a penalty.

Also the council put the word "target" in inverted commas. Why? perhaps because there isn't a target but an expectation. Traffic wardens are expected to issue 12 parking tickets per shift. What if they don't see 12 contraventions in a shift ? they are still expected to issue 12 tickets.

What is an expectation anyway ? Mr Mustard's dictionary says it is something that is "hoped for" and his thesaurus linked it with assumption, demand, requirement so an expectation is dangerously close to a quota or a target.

The staff in the parking service have had enough of this sort of behaviour and are about to start working to rule, see here. Excellent. Mr Mustard hopes that traffic wardens will look very closely and very slowly and thoroughly at every car and every line, entry sign and panel sign to be sure that they are exactly 100% in accordance with the law before they issue a penalty charge notice. That will mean that virtually no penalties can be issued because the lines need renewing in most places as the council well knows.

So Cllr. Coleman what should you be looking for? You should be setting the expectation that penalties come down week by week as residents learn from their mistakes ( isn't that Barnet's mantra ) and then they don't transgress again. The ultimate goal should be zero tickets issued. How should the Council be acting? 

Well Mr Mustard thinks they should run free courses that explain all of the rules and regulations that apply in Barnet and explain how and where to park legally in Barnet.

They could give guided tours of the CCTV centre so you can see how if you drive in a bus lane you will get ticketed so nudging people into complying.

They could give every resident who doesn't get a penalty charge notice within Barnet in a year a discount when they renew their resident's permit to say thank you for being a good law abiding motorist.

Basically, Mr Mustard prefers the use of a carrot to the stick.What should you do if you get a parking ticket. Mr Mustard's advice is to appeal. Many tickets that are issued are technically wrong. Whilst the work to rule is going on Mr Mustard has the expectation that the Information Officers ( an unintelligible title ) who deal with appeals will cancel a ticket if there is any doubt about it having been properly issued. You can search the internet and put in your own appeal or you can find a company that specialises in doing these things for the poor downtrodden motorist. For the C zone there is a new service which will advise you in the links to the right of this blog and it looks like other people will start up in other zones. Do let Mr Mustard know how you get on if do you use that service.

Do you suppose that Cllr Coleman ever gets a ticket? Mr Mustard doubts it.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Brian Coleman abolishes pay and display parking in Barnet

Mr Mustard has already, like his fellow bloggers, written blogs on the subject of controlled parking zones.

All of the bloggers have the interests of all of Barnet's residents in their hearts.

On important non-political matters the bloggers have a virtual conflab and agree a form of words between them that everyone is content to publish. The posting then goes on all of the blogs on the same day.

Today is one such example. There is an attempt to steamroller a radical change through the council which is too important to be left to one man and here is the collective response of Barnet's bloggers which was emailed to Barnet's councillors at 07.29 this morning:

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Brian Coleman abolishes pay and display parking in Barnet – bloggers call for Cabinet call-in and consultation

It has been brought to our attention that Councillor Brian Coleman has signed off, using delegated powers, a decision abolishing pay and display parking in the London Borough of Barnet. We believe that this is much too important an issue to be left to just one councillor to use delegated powers, and we call for the cabinet to call the paper in for review by the full cabinet.

The relevant report states that call-in must be done by 15th August. [http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/reports/reportdetail.asp?ReportID=10559]

The people of Barnet deserve better than to have such important decisions passed without debate. This change affects many residents, businesses and visitors to the Borough. We call on the cabinet to reject this change and follow the example of other Boroughs, where residents, businesses and other impacted organisations are properly consulted, before such changes are approved.

12 August 2011

Signed:

Derek Dishman

John Dix

Vicki Morris

Theresa Musgrove

Roger Tichborne

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Since this was sent before this blog post was written Mr Jack Cohen one of the 3 liberal councillors for Childs Hill ward was his usual quick self and at 07:36 had emailed back to say he had called in the decision.

Mr Mustard has now been told that Jack Cohen had seen the item before the bloggers, one would hope that all councillors get to see all dpr's first ? and had already decided to and called it in before we nudged him. Well done Mr Cohen.  

Mr Mustard is now told that councillors don't get sent the delegated powers reports as they are issued. They have to find them on the council website just like members of the public, including bloggers, do - is that how democracy works?

That means that the full cabinet will have to discuss the matter. I am sure that at least one blogger will be at that meeting in September and will report back to you. Links to all of the other bloggers sites are to the right.

Will the decision get squashed ?

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

"I never knowingly undercharge" - Councillor Brian Coleman

 

When Mr Mustard was 18 and moved to the big city from the country his parents warned him about about all sorts of dangers that lurked in the capital including the sharp suited spivs who played the 3 card trick in Oxford St. It is very impressive how one can never catch the odd card ( having watched at a safe distance ) unless you are the stooge of course.

His parents didn't warn him that another danger lurked away from the centre of the city; that of having his pocket picked by the local Council simply in order to leave his carriage in the street or to receive visitors. In this case the Council are trying to make out that black is white in order to try and justify the increases the infamous Cllr Coleman said, on the BBC ( hard to deny afterwards ) that the proposed increases were "in line with other London Boroughs".

[ My friends at Barnet CPZ action have already blogged on this subject and written to the Chief Executive and you can look at their comprehensive assessment here.

http://barnetcpz.blogspot.com/

Please pop over their and also donate to the cause if you can. Mr Mustard has already added his contribution to the pot. ]

A reasonable person would think that "in line with" means "more or less the same as". Well of course firstly the point of parking charges is to regulate traffic flow and not to raise revenue. In Westminster there is a high density of buildings, little spare space and lots of commercial activity which creates congestion and huge demand for parking that is most certainly not the case in green and leafy Barnet. Indeed this description comes from the OneBarnet jobs micro website

We are a desirable leafy suburb with over 200 parks, 36,000 street trees and 36% undeveloped land.

So there is lots of space and not the same level of commerce and therefore the level of parking charges should be lower as there is less demand.

Looking at the map of the London Boroughs the ones that are similarly located on the edge of north London are from Hillingon to Havering ( + Hertsmere ) and their main charges are as follows.

	Hillingdon	Harrow	Enfield	Waltham Forest	Redbridge	Havering	Hertsmere	Barnet
Car1	nil	£46	£30-£70	£30	£56	£20	£15	£100
Car2	£40	£56		£90	£78	£78		£125
Car3		£77		£150	£100	£100		£150
Visitor - min	50p	£1.02	50p	47p	56p	£1	£30	£4
max		£1.53	£1	£1.50			p.a.	£4

Barnet ( proposed, subject to judicial review )

Car1 £100 per annum

Car2 £125

Car3 £150

Visitors £4 per visit/day

Hillingdon ( Mr Mustard might have to move there - a Borough where they know the meaning of "Putting the Community First" )

Car1 £free

Car2 £40

Visitors 50p ( first 10 free )

Harrow 

Car1 £46

Car2 £56

Car3 £77

Visitors from £1.02 to £1.53 ( 50% discount for senior citizens )

Enfield

Car £30 to £70 depending on duration of zone

Visitors 50p or £1

Waltham Forest ( 900cc to 3,000cc )

Car1 £30

Car2 £90

Car3 £150

Visitors 47p to £1.50 ( 1hr to 5hrs)

Redbridge

Car1 £55.75

Car2 £78

Car3 £100

Visitors 56p

Havering

Car1 £20

Car2 £78

Car3 £100

Visitors £1

Hertsmere 

Car1 £15

Visitors £30 for the year

So for a one or two car household, which probably covers 98% of them, Barnet are the highest charge in every case. As to Visitors it is just daylight robbery. The only line that the charges of other Boroughs are in line with is a zig-zag.

Occasionally Mr Mustard makes a mistake in his life. What he then does is he apologises and tries to behave better in the future and then he feels much better about things. 

Its up to you Mr Coleman to lead by example and bring your colleagues with you. Please scrap EasyCouncil / OneBarnet / FutureShape ( or whatever it is called today ) and let us have Honest Commonsense Council ( and a little apology for what you said about parking charges being "in-line" - it really won't hurt you know, and I think you will be respected for it ).

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Cash cow yields to be increased

Yesterday evening at the full Council Meeting item 2.1 is questions to the Leader ( who was absent ) and Cabinet Members ( i.e. the inner circle of Councillors who take the big decisions - if your Councillor isn't one of them then he/she doesn't have much power - think Ikea rather than chippendale ! ). There were 40 questions.

For residents who live in or visit a CPZ there is more bad news. Here is the Q&A for you to read for yourself printed in Barnet Council's corporate colour of "wishy-washy blue".

Item 2.1

Council Questions to Cabinet Members

12 April 2011

Questions and Responses

Question 1 by Councillor Lord Palmer

Can the Cabinet Member explain why in Barnet our parking enforcement officers allow motorists to drive off without being issued a PCN after they have been observed committing a parking offence? 

Why has the legislation allowing our officers to issue the PCN by post, after they have started writing it but after the motorist has driven off not been put into effect? 

I have been informed that ‘’whilst the law has been revised it remains an option that has not been endorsed or adopted by this Authority and as such our procedures or systems do not cater for this aspect of enforcement.”

Answer by Councillor Brian Coleman

Councillor Lord Palmer raises a valid issue and I have asked officers to implement with effect from 15^th April following appropriate training for Civil Enforcement Officers.

So will this make the Borough a nicer place to live in or visit; no it won't. Barnet Council are desperate for money from motorists. Squeeze our teets a bid harder why don't you - cows have a well known habit of kicking out when milked too hard and then you will be sorry.

If you are unhappy about this policy then write to your Councillor. You can find a link here.

http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/council/listcouncillorname.asp?intSubSectionID=13&intSectionID=9

The Council's time would be better spent in making sure that all ticket machines are working properly, that all signs and lines are correct ( they aren't ) and that they answer the phone in a decent time - it was 20 minutes on Monday. This new policy will simply lead to more appeals ( lines and signs being incorrect, faded or missing is a good place to start ). The parking "service" is already in a mess - try and cut down the number of tickets not put them up. The point of the CPZs is to control parking, not to make £millions out of motorists who overstay by a minute or two.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Allotments - double digging

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/council_spending_on_allotments#incoming-163310

I really can't do you a better service than link you to the above Freedom of Information request which compares an email from Cllr. Brian Coleman saying that Barnet Council subsidise allotments to the tune of £100,000 a year ( which would be a good thing ) to the figures for 2010/11 which show that Barnet Council made a profit out of allotments of £5,619

Who is wrong ? the FOI officer ( I don't think so ) or Cllr Coleman. Ladbrokes won't take bets on a racing certainty like that.

Being economical with the truth is not good; you get found out. Interestingly the subject of allotments came up at tonight's full Council meeting and all Cllr. Brian Coleman would say there ( in a written answer ) was that residents should be charged less than non-residents whose Boroughs have often sold their allotments for development ( happens all over the place as demand for allotments goes up and down over the decades )

No mention of the £100,000 subsidy Mr Coleman. Very wise as it is not the truth.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard