The move follows a reprieve of nearly a year for drivers after the wireless cameras had to be switched off because they did not meet Department for Transport guidelines on image quality.

Westminster council has now fixed the £15 million digital network of cameras, increasing the pixellation, at a cost of £495,000 and had them re-certificated.The software was also upgraded at an extra cost of £330,000.

The cameras go “live” today and the first parking fines will go out within days.

Officials say the cameras were responsible for around 20 per cent of parking fines in the borough prior to being switched off. Last year Westminster issued a total of 686,310 parking fines.

Today the council published an internet map revealing the location of each camera and said there will be “Street Enforcement Camera” signs at street level.

The cameras are in the West End, Belgravia, Trafalgar Square, Knightsbridge, Oxford Street and on central London’s main bridges.

The cameras were meant to have been back online more than six months ago but it took longer than expected to gain official certification for the upgraded devices, the council said.

Danny Chalkley, Westminster’s cabinet member for city management, said: “We have sought a fairer approach to parking enforcement and are committed to getting it right first time round. CCTV is an effective tool in ensuring this happens.

“Cameras in Westminster are used in areas where there are known problems with traffic and anti-social behaviour and we hope that by highlighting the locations of these cameras motorists will think twice before driving dangerously or inconsiderately.”

You can avoid having to pay high London parking fees and fines by using the Tube and our text service to find free parking near tube stations outside the congestion zone.

Simply text the word Parking plus the name of a tube station OUTSIDE THE CONGESTION ZONE to 80039 and you’ll receive a text back giving you three locations near the tube, or the one closest to it on the same line.

This is London

Why aren’t politicians taking more notice of the increasingly angry motorist who feels powerless to do anything about our unjust parking laws, asks Philip Johnston…

Read it here

Chairman of the south west Essex branch of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), David Miles, said:

“At a meeting this week Epping Forest Council confirmed that for the second consecutive year car park charges across all car parks run by the council will be frozen and at the same time there will be free parking in all council run long stay car parks every Saturday during the year.

“This is excellent news for town centres such as Buckhurst Hill, Debden, Epping, Loughton, Ongar and Waltham Abbey and gives retailers the opportunity to develop ways of attracting shoppers to use those facilities and bring additional business through their door.

“This is a practical and positive step by Epping Forest District Council and it is important that retailers now work with their local town centre partnerships, Essex FSB and Epping chamber of commerce so that together we can get maximum benefit from this council decision to increase the number of shoppers using their local shops.”

Town hall chiefs in Kensington and Chelsea are considering raising their £5.50 surcharge on parking permits for diesel vehicles.

The borough, which has a number of pollution hotspots including Cromwell Road and Westway, is also calling for road tax to be graduated according to emissions and for MOT tests to be toughened up to reduce pollutants.

Officials from the local authority told the Commons environmental audit committee that while diesel cars were more fuel efficient, they had higher harmful emissions.

Between 3,000 and 5,000 people in the capital are dying early each year because of pollution, say experts.

Several councils, including Richmond and Camden, have parking permit schemes based on emissions. A move by Kensington and Chelsea would put pressure on other boroughs to act.

Westminster motorists could face a £7.3million bill in what critics say is a cynical move to fill the £22m black hole in the council’s books.

The proposals include doubling the cost of meter charges in St John’s Wood and scrapping free parking on single yellow lines after 6.30pm.

City Hall parking boss Councillor Danny Chalkley, who has become a hate figure for motorists in recent months following a tide of negative publicity for his parking operation, insisted the charges were nothing more than a strategy to tackle congestion.

Cllr Chalkley said: “It’s not correct that we are doing this to raise revenue; we are doing this to keep streets running freely.”

But notes from an internal council briefing, seen by the West End Extra, state that parking was the “key driver” behind the council’s bid to recuperate the lost millions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash it invested in Icelandic banks.

The report said: “Officers were asked to go away and look more closely at parking and community safety to find reductions or additional income. The areas of parking and community safety have been earmarked to contribute the majority of the £14m.”

Parking campaigner Barrie Segal, who lives in Pimlico, said: “I find it truly astonishing that Westminster would set down in writing that it knows revenue can only be raised from parking if it is ‘incidental’ – then cynically nudge-nudge wink-wink they come out with a load of extra charges and say it is because of congestion.”
Westminster makes more from parking than any other local authority in London, raking in a record £35m last year.
Using parking to raise revenue is illegal, following a 1995 High Court judgment, but councils are allowed to make money if it is incidental to other reasons, such as restricting traffic.

Leader of the Labour group Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg said: “These figures are truly shocking and show how Westminster residents are again being used as a ‘cashpoint’ to fill the deep hole in the council’s finances. In 2008 Westminster Conservatives invested £17m in now-failed Icelandic banks and now, two years later in 2010, Westminster residents are picking up the bill for this financial incompetence.”

Over the past year City Hall’s parking operation has become a lightning rod to motorists, sparked by allegations from its own wardens of illegal ticket targets that culminated in the announcement of an unprecedented inquiry that will start next month.

Kevin Goad, Westminster’s head of commissioning for city management, said: “A number of other local authorities in areas far less congested than ours already have extended parking controls, but we are listening to the views made by all those who would be affected and will consult fully on what are currently just proposals.

“It would be remiss for the council not to take into account the full impact of any potential changes to any of its policies.

“We constantly try to balance the competing interests of businesses, visitors, residents and motorists across the city, and our final decision will be made in a manner which is totally transparent and open to scrutiny.”
A decision will not be made until the end of the year.

West End Extra

Although we have tried to make this clear on other pages of the website we understand that not everybody knows which stations are effected by the Zone.

We are therefore providing a list to hopefully help future users avoid getting an error text (although users aren’t charged by us for these texts) and provide them with a satisfactory result on the first attempt.

These Tube stations are within the Congestion Charging Zone

A controversial trial of charging riders will be made permanent under a new bylaw.

Announcing its decision, Westminster said: “The permanent traffic orders will come into force from Monday 25 January.”

But campaigners believe the move can still be defeated in court. The British Motorcyclists Federation (BMF) is urging riders to donate to a “legal fighting fund” which has already reached £30,000. The group says action is needed to save free bike parking nationally.

A spokesman said: “Westminster City Council’s decision to make permanent their controversial scheme for motorcycle parking charges could have national implications and therefore makes it more important than ever that motorcyclists fight this retrograde move…

“Currently standing at some £30,000, the fund needs at least another £20,000 to meet the expected minimum legal costs of £50,000.”

Warren Djanogly, leader of the campaign group No to the Bike Parking Tax (NTBPT), said the council’s “decision to make the scheme permanent has opened a window for us to launch a full legal challenge”.

Chris Hodder, the BMF’s Government Relations Executive, said: “The only option now available is to overturn the scheme in the courts.

“If we don’t, this could spell the nationwide end of free parking for motorcycles. Now is the time to stand up and be counted and support the NTBPT fighting fund.”

Since August Westminster has charged riders to use roadside motorcycle parking bays which are traditional free. The daily charge currently stands at £1.

Find more details on the legal fund and the next demo ride at www.notobikeparkingtax.com

Motorcycle news

In the financial year 2008/09, 28,884 drivers were caught doing something illegal along the arterial route – raising at least £1.5million for the council.

The road stretches for over a mile and connects Harrow town centre with Wealdstone town centre.Almost three quarters of the fines were for ‘moving traffic offences’ caught on CCTV cameras, such as jumping a red light, blocking a box junction, driving in a bus lane or making a banned turn.

The remaining 25 per cent were parking tickets issued by Harrow Council’s patrolling parking wardens. Moving traffic contraventions attract a set £120 fine while parking fines cost the motorists between £60 and £100 depending on the severity of the misdemeanour.

Even factoring in the fact that in both cases the penalty will be halved if paid within 14 days, the authority must have collected close to £1.5million alone from Station Road – at the most conservative estimate.

Although Southampton Row, in Bloomsbury, north London, drew the second highest number of fines – 22,275 – it proved the most lucrative road in the capital because Harrow Council’s fines are lower than that of Camden Council. Councillor Susan Hall, deputy leader of Harrow Council, said: “Station Road is the main thor-oughfare through Harrow town centre for over a mile towards Wealdstone.

“It is therefore important to keep the traffic moving though the borough, which includes a series of busy junctions, bus lanes and restricted turnings as well as one-way entrances.

“We have a duty to keep these major arteries clear for public transport users, emergency services and motorists.”

In October 2008 the Observer revealed that the Parking Adjudicator had ruled some of Harrow Council’s enforcement letters were ‘flawed’ after motorist John Evans, of South Harrow, won his appeal against a fine for stopping momentarily in Station Road.

It was our report that brought the issue to the authority’s attention, and consequently 3,400 affected tickets were cancelled, although the 9,385 drivers who had already paid were not refunded.

Paul Pearson, who runs free ticket-busting advice website penaltychargenotice.co.uk, said: “CCTV is meant to be used spar-ingly and only where it’s not practical to use traffic wardens, such as a fast dual carriageway with no pavements.

“There is the other problem of Station Road that it is full of shops, and those people who stop and pop into a shop and get a £120 ticket aren’t likely to stop again.”

Mr Pearson added: “You get a £60 fine for speeding but stopping for 10 seconds in Station Road to look at your A To Z gets you a fine of £120.”

You can avoid having to pay high London parking fees and fines by using the Tube and our text service to find free parking near tube stations outside the congestion zone.

Simply text the word Parking plus the name of a tube station OUTSIDE THE CONGESTION ZONE to 80039 and you’ll receive a text back giving you three locations near the tube, or the one closest to it on the same line.

Harrow Observer

The move, which has outraged motorist and tourism groups, would extend parking meter charges and single yellow line penalties until midnight from Monday to Saturday in Westminster’s central controlled zones. Currently, there is free parking in those spaces from 6.30pm on such days.

Theatres, restaurants and late-opening shops fear they would be hit by the changes as customers would stay away. Motoring groups claim the council has designed the move to raise money they have lost from drivers during the recession.

Westminster council is also considering raising parking charges with a doubling of rates suggested for St John’s Wood from £1.10 per hour to £2.20.

Central zones currently charge £4.40 per hour but this could rise to £5. The F zone south of Marylebone Road is marked as a potential target as well as all other zones except B and C, which are north of Marylebone Road.

Residents with parking permits would be exempt from the new enforcement structure, which was discussed at a council Cabinet meeting on Monday.

The option to raise meter charges was said not to go “above inflation”. But although residents would be exempt from the longer charging hours, the price of their permit could still rise above inflation.

A council report last month said that parking charges needed to go up for “harmonisation” purposes so they are on a par with those in neighbouring Camden that charges £4.80 per hour.

It is understood that council chiefs were asked to find “additional income” from parking and noted it was “earmarked to contribute to” £14?million of savings.

Richard Pulford, chairman of the Society of London Theatre, said: “The proposition is ridiculous and would be gravely damaging. We have a lot of people who come into the West End from out of town by car because they often cannot get back on public transport. To add parking to their cost would be extraordinary. It would be a huge blow to the night-time economy.”

Paul Pearson, a campaigner who runs the penaltychargenotice.co.uk website said: “I think it’s disgusting, it’s just for revenue-raising, pure and simple.”

Cllr Danny Chalkley, Westminster council’s cabinet member for city management, said: “As one of the most congested boroughs in the UK there is a huge amount of pressure on Westminster’s parking network.

“We have a challenging role in striking a balance between the many competing needs and demands for our kerbside space in order to keep the city moving.

“At the start of the new decade and with the London Olympics just two years away, now is a sensible time to re-examine parking policies in parts of central London.

“It’s important to stress though that no decisions have been taken yet as to any potential changes to parking in Westminster.”

This is london

Motorists parking in Richmond Park, and Bushy Park, both in south-west London, will have to pay £1 and 50p respectively to park for one hour.

Residents and politicians have fought the proposals – saying it is a tax on using free green space.

“It’s going to ruin the park” said Justine Greening, shadow minister for London. “The charges will be unaffordable for pensioners and families with children who need to bring their cars in with prams.”

Colin Buttery, deputy chief executive of The Royal Parks, said: “At a maximum of £2 a day at Bushy Park and £3 a day at Richmond Park, the charges are similar to the cost of a cup of coffee and compare favourably with car parks locally and at similar amenities.”

Other changes include the reduction of the speed limit from 30mph to 20mph and allowing private hire vehicles into the parks.

The fees will be implemented later this year, subject to parliamentary approval.

Income from the charges will be used to help maintain car parks and roads.

Other Royal Parks in London, like Greenwich and Hyde Park, already charge for parking.

bbc.co.uk