Barnet Council profiting from protest

Mr Mustard thinks that his readers will be well aware of the protest outside the Phoenix Cinema on 23 May 24.

This led to the High Road being closed to southbound traffic (and probably the other way also as the crowd got bigger).

As vehicles couldn't get through, some turned right where they shouldn't. It isn't clear yet to Mr Mustard how they came to go that way, whether the police on foot directed vehicles that way or if some signs had been hurriedly erected. Barnet Council issued PCNs by post for contraventing the no right turn into East End Road.

The above image is a still taken from a short cctv clip in which 5 cars drove against the sign. You can see that buses are queued up waiting for the road to clear or other instructions from base.

Mr Mustard needs your help.

Do you have any photos or dashcam footage to show how vehicles were diverted, if they were as Barnet Council won't relent and cancel a PCN. Evidence is needed to show that the vehicles were exempt from the no right turn as they were if they were instructed by a policeman/woman in uniform or by diversion signs.

Please email them to mrmustard@zoho.com

Obviously common sense is that the PCNs aren't needed from a traffic management point of view as there is no danger from doing a right turn when there isn't any oncoming traffic but the council don't let common sense get in the way of raising a fortune.

Thanks

The end.

Delivery bike tax

Mr Mustard happened to see this official notification in the Barnet Press

What payment exemption?

Now Mr Mustard does recall Cllr John Hart mentioning at committee the problem of pizza (well food anyway) delivery bikes taking up all the space in the day in Mill Hill Broadway to the detriment of car drivers who might want to pay to park (revenue of course was not his first thought, it was the loss of a visitor, full stop, of course) & Mr Mustard can see how it might present a problem in certain locations.

The above appears to be an attempt to fix the problem, if there is one, by making motorcycle bays longer and reserving them for businesses who have paid to park there, the Mr Mustard motorbike not having a permit will have to park elsewhere, which would be in a car space for free, thus preventing yet more parking by cars. The problem with reserving any section of road space for one class of vehicle is that the rest suffer even more (a bit like bus lanes but let's not go there today).

Google's last drive by image is below

Maybe there is a fast food delivery shop on the corner now, residents will know and can comment. Mr Mustard prefers slow food, especially at Table du Marché, at no. 111. (their service is at the correct tempo, Mr Mustard is referring to slow food as being real food, he never has pizza delivered to Mustard Mansions).

Anyway if the problem is too many delivery scooters, the bay doesn't fix that problem, in fact it makes the problem official and rakes in the money at the same time. Trebles all round, as they say in Private Eye.

Unless councillors have voted on creating motorcycle permits at a committee meeting, and they may have as Mr Mustard has been a bit slack on his recent attendances, these permits can't yet be sold in any event? However it looks like the Traffic Management Order can be amended by the Chief Executive which is to give him policy making power when really he should only implement what councillors decide upon.

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

Allotments - Digging for Gold

Barnet Council want allotments to be self managed. Many of them are half-way there already. Allotment holders have to be self reliant as it's not as if the Council do much for them anyway.

In Barnet there are 45 sites and 4,500 plot holders.

Barnet has "consulted" on its ideas for the allotments as per the attached link.

http://tinyurl.com/5suvkgw

Before the consultation income was £95,000 ( this appears to be just the direct let and self collect sites - as always there is a lack of clarity in Barnet's figures - total income is £140,000 - which is chicken feed - sorry ! ) and expenses were as follows:-

Services £27,500 ( things like a temporary toilet )

Skips £13,500

Repairs £26,000

Improvements £23,000

Total £90,000

Surplus £5,000

The funny thing is that allotments are a recreational activity and are intended to be subsidised. Barnet have other ideas. They have just served on my friend Mr D. a notice to increase his rent from £5.90 per pole ( an ancient measure of 5.5 yards square - most people have 5 or 10 poles ) to £17 per pole, so an increase for 5 poles from £29.50 to £85 p.a. i.e. an increase of 188%

At the same time they want allotments to go self managing = in OneBarnetSpeak - more work for more rent.

So rents across the board will go from £95,000 to £273,728 ( 95000 / 5.9 * 17 ) which the self managed sites will have to pay 50% of,

and costs will fall as follows :

Services to £nil - tenants to be liable

Skips to £nil - tenants to be liable

Repairs to £nil - tenants to be liable - break-ins are frequent

Improvements to £nil - tenants

so for the Council the position will change to

Income £136,864

Expenditure £nil

Surplus £136,864

and for the plot-holders it will probably be cheaper to go to the supermarket. They will have to pay for security, fencing - which is not cheap, water, tree pruning ( lots of those near/on allotments ) renewing the vehicle tracks in allotments, the annual skip for rubbish clearance, the toilet so that people can stay on their allotment for a few hours, insurance and everything else.

The only snag is that allotments are a recreational facility that is meant to be subsidised. The Council simply should not be making a profit from its allotments. The main legal case in respect of allotments is Harwood v Borough of Reigate and Banstead ( see http://tinyurl.com/4x3aes7 )

and this is what the judge said:-

"What does seem to me to be the right approach for the defendants ( the Council ) to take is not to discriminate against this recreational activity as compared with other recreational activities. In other words, unless there are some very special circumstances relating to this particular recreational facility which, if it were some other recreational facility would require that a higher charge should be made for the use of that facility, then in the ordinary case if there is to be an increase in the rent charged then it should be in line with the increases that have been charged for the use of the other recreational facilities."

so unless Barnet have increased all other charges for recreational activity such as tennis, swimming and football by 200%, which they have not, then they need to go back to the drawing board and revise the charges.

The internet suggests that making a profit from allotments is illegal. Mr Mustard will allow the Council 30 days to go back over your decision and make another better one before he enquires too closely into the law ( I know you read the blog ). You have already been dragged through the Courts on wardens and lost. The CPZ review is next and you are definitely on dodgy ground there. Will allotments be the third cause célèbre ?

Please can you start turning into commonsense Council. How many disgruntled residents do you want to have ?

My unanswered question  is - why do Barnet Council make so many bad decisions ? Answers on a postcard to..,.. actually better to email mrmustard@zoho.com