A profitable problem (not solved) Connell Crescent, Ealing W5

Scouting around the internet Mr Mustard found that residents of Connell Crescent (close to the Hanger Lane gyratory) have been unhappy about their road being used as a short cut from the A40 to the North Circular since at least 2005.

The local residents association wrote about it in a 2015 newsletter:

be careful what you wish for; some Connell Crescent residents received PCN!

The council duly implemented a "no motor vehicles" restriction from 3 to 7pm.

Did the council know the extent of the problem?
No, and here is the proof in a letter from an Engineer in Highways. (an expert in financial engineering Mr Mustard would hazard)

The council now know the extent of the problem because they have been issuing PCNs like confetti.

So the council now know that c.300 cars a day are still using Connell Crescent when they shouldn't (the council didn't try very hard to warn people did it, with only 1 in 10 motorists being sent a warning? and no extra warning signs of a new restriction, or council staff giving out leaflets on site) so the residents are still suffering, despite the council imposed "solution" but this road is now a nice little big earner for Ealing Council. Trebles all round.

On Thursday 24 September you will find three NoToMob members on site who will put a dent in the daily figures and try to get them as near to nil as possible. In that way the NoToMob will be doing the councils job for them and helping the residents to have a more peaceful life. Do pop along to say hello to Bald Eagle and CoCo.

Just look at the income though that Ealing Council could gather in a year.

52 weeks at £167,570 a week is nearly £9million.

Of course many people will pay at half price but that would still be over £4million of lovely revenue.

Local residents will slowly catch on as they are caught out (one incurred 8 PCN before the first one arrived in the post) and so then it will only be visitors who are caught but there are plenty of those on the A40 and until every satnav is updated (Mr Mustard's is 4 years old so he reads the road signs) there will be victims aplenty for Ealing.

They will probably resist change now that they have such an earner (the council only made £8.5m in PCN income in the last financial year so this one spot will, incredibly, double their revenue) and they only issued 3,024 code 52 (no motor vehicles is 52J) PCNs in the whole year which figure they have passed in a fortnight at Connell Crescent, so something must be done.

Clearly, this level of non-compliance suggests that the signs are inadequate.

What are the choices for this location?

1  A physical barrier, either an arm that comes down but lifts to let vehicles exit, or bollards which rise and fall.

2  An illuminated No Entry sign (the red circle which has a 99.9% compliance rate) which only lights up during the 3 - 7pm restriction time.

3  Make the road one way westwards with permanent no entry signs at the Boden shop (Hanger Green) end.

If the council stick with the status quo that would tell Mr Mustard they don't give a fig about residents but have become addicted to the revenue.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

£7m in and on Amber alert (with red blotches)

Mr Mustard realised it was quite a while since he reported generally on One Barnet but then no-one inside the council seems to have reported on it since 24 April (to Budget & Performance Overview & Scrutiny - papers here ; for now you will have to download the whole thing as the Appendix 1 link seems to be broken).

The pdf is sadly sideways as Mr Mustard doesn't lash out hundreds of pounds on software. If some kind soul wants to use their version of Adobe Acrobat to turn this round for Mr Mustard it would be greatly appreciated (please email the corrected version to mrmustard@zoho.com) . If you download it from scribd you can view it sideways on the screen, just not save it, and it will print correctly.

One Barnet Programme Report 24 April 12

If you want to see it the easier way around, here we go, with a series of jpg images that you can click on to increase in size:

Some points extracted from the above:

How is the legal services merger going? It is too early to say until all this One Barnet nonsense is out of the way although we have seen Harrow staff not know that planning decisions cannot be taken after a certain time and try to give advice after a vote has been taken (too late!).

The HR update is a masterpiece of delusion. Mr Mustard doubts that a single person is looking forward to working for BT, Crapita or EC Harris.

This report shows how worthless the traffic light system is. For parking two of the indicators were amber and so overall the project was green which is an over-generous way of marking. All the accounts, and secret documents, that have reached the eyes & ears of Mr Mustard show that the new contract is a shambles and this is in the public domain given how badly appeals have been going for the council at PATAS.

The delay of the IPT upgrade is a significant issue ...data within detailed business cases will be less robust (i.e. wrong )  but One Barnet ploughs on regardless.

Route sharing with Brent didn't last very long due to customer complaint. Mr Mustard expects that the customer was put last in the process and was driven all round Brent & Barnet before reaching their destination like a holidaymaker on a cheap trip in a coach on the Costa del Sol.

The transport bureau hasn't been very well planned; "issues with staff transfer" and "the lack of IT system in the WLA Transport Bureau" yes, in 2012!

Oh dear me Robert Rams, the worst performing project is Libraries and your project is going to take over 3 years to complete. "Programme is still developing a fully worked and approved plan..."

The major risks are so worrying that the public cannot be allowed to see them (p33). Mr Mustard thinks we should be told so has the matter with the Information Commissioner.

Major issues. Oh dear Robert, there is  no budget for library transformation. That may be a blessing as it will stop change occurring.

Just look at the spending on this vanity project. By April 2013 the allocated spend will be £9,172,748 and that is without valuing the time of management and staff taken off their normal daily jobs.

£9m spent and nothing really to show for it.

Stop the world, let Mr Mustard off.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard