Westminster City to charge bikes for parking

[BaZa®]

See March 31st demo news here: MEGA DEMO PROTEST: Tuesday, 31st March 2009, meet between 5pm-6.15pm, Trafalgar Square / Whitehall / Parliament Square / Westminster City Hall for 7pm | No To Bike Parking Tax

and on our site here:

http://www.harley-davidson-hangout.c...tml#post655479

[Scottie]

Stick my head above the parapit time but I don't object that strongly to a charge for parking SO LONG AS THERE IS SOME! Biggest problem is finding a bay. First time I parked after the charge I had no idea and was just glad to find a space after riding round for 45mins!!! End result £80 fine! All fairnesss to them though they recinded it on appeal. I had no idea they were charging (sorry Mutchy).

My big grip is there still is not enough quality on street parking for bikes in Westminster. If on the other hand charging £1.50 is the thin edge of the wedge then that's different but at that fee even for a few hours I don't mind about the charge, sorry.

[SJC69]

Well here's two replies I got when I personally lodged an objection....

{The good}

Thank you for copying me your email about motorbike parking charges.

I have always been opposed to the introduction of parking charges for
motorbikes. When invited, I went to the committee of the 'No to the
Bike Parking Tax' campaign to hear their views and give them advice on
how to oppose the council's policy. All members of the opposition
Labour group are working to get the charges overturned and we are
talking to individual Conservative councillors to convince them.

On Wednesday 28 January there was a short debate on the charges at a
full council meeting at which Cllr Paul Dimoldenberg argued for them
to be abolished immediately. The cabinet member Cllr Danny Chalkley
did not agree and said he would only rethink the policy at the end of
the trial period. There will be future opportunities to hold the
council to account for this policy and I hope we can eventually get it
cancelled.

--
Cllr David Boothroyd (Westbourne Ward, Labour)
On behalf of the Labour group of Westminster city councillors

{The not so good}

Dear Sir


Thank you for your e-mail about parking charges for motorcycle bays.


We are keen to promote motorcycling as a more environmentally sustainable transport choice than the car. Motor cycles are not liable to pay the £8 per day congestion charge in London and Boris Johnson has championed the availability of bus lanes for motor cycles.


One of the main reasons that no charge has previously been made for motorcycle parking was that no technical solution was available to address the fact that motorcycles do not have windscreens in which to display tickets. Now that this problem has been solved, it is only fair that motorcyclists should make some contribution to the cost of providing adequate parking capacity. Central Government is putting local councils under increasing financial pressure. The alternative may have been that no motorcycle spaces were available as councils sought to maximize their income from car spaces. In that situation motorcycles would have to park in car spaces and pay the full fee for a car.


Many of the motorcycles that park at Westminster are owned by people from outside the borough and, therefore, they have not contributed to the cost of providing this parking through the local council tax.

So long as the charges made for motorcycle parking are reasonable and the system is adequately and fairly policed then we do not have any objection to the democratically elected councillors in Westminster taking this line. If you are a resident of Westminster then you can make representations to your local Councillor or if not then please write to the Leader of the Council. We strongly believe that local councils should be able to make decisions of this sort and in turn they are answerable to their electorate.


Please be assured that there has been no central direction of this policy change in Westminster.


Yours faithfully


Robert Goodwill MP for Scarborough & Whitby
Shadow Transport Minister