Forum Topic

An idea for Ealing Council's Transport Policy

Why not increase the charges in the borough's cheapest car park — the one by Perceval House? It only costs £2 a day to park there which is a fraction of the price in other car parks in central Ealing. To be the same as other car parks it should be at least £10 a day. Increasing charges would also encourage council staff and councillors to use public transport or walk to work. This would reduce congestion and pollution in Ealing and be good for their health.  There could also be a surcharge for anyone with an older more polluting car. This would force them to buy new cars which as we all know is really good for the environment. Also to allow for a fairer allocation of parking space all these spaces could be made shared bays with anyone allowed to park in them using RingGo. This wouldn't take space for existing users because as the Council's transport report clearly shows introducing shared bays won't bring in much commuter parking. I'm sure they will take up this suggestion because they would never want it to be said that they are being hypocritical by making sure they get cheap parking for themselves whilst dramatically increasing charges for residents.

Graham Southworth ● 2834d8 Comments

This is a pernicious meme about "able bodied" people with disabled badges. Disability is not always visible.Notwithstanding I imagine they are misused sometimes, but please be careful when asserting that an apparently able bodied person is not disabled in some way.

Paul James ● 2830d

I hope that's not true but you may be right. It would be interesting to hear from opposition councillors why they don't think this issue is worth raising. Another factor may be that staff have the right to subsidised parking written into their contracts and the unions would be up in arms if it was withdrawn. The problem is that the more the actual cost of parking for normal citizens goes up the bigger this subsidy gets and it probably has already risen beyond the level that HMRC can ignore.

Stuart Green ● 2830d

You'll probably not find that there is a great deal of enthusiasm for your proposal because, as I understand it, all councillors, including opposition councillors are entitled to this perk. None of them are likely to advocate change.

Andy Jones ● 2830d

You have to have a Council staff permit to park their during the working week. The substantial discount over normal parking rates represents a benefit in kind which should be declared on tax returns. It would be interesting to know what Council guidance to staff was for how this should be treated. Overall an organisation that claims one of its primary concerns is sustainable travel and the environment should not be subsidising car travel for staff.

Stuart Green ● 2832d

The problem is we have now been taken over by a communist dictator commrade Bell, and you do as they tell us!! The parking is only for the privileged....

Nicolas Ozegovic ● 2833d

Along The High Street, where M&S is at top of road. Opposite are about half a dozen disabled bays. The cars park there with their blue badge but on 90% of the times I have witnessed the people who park are able bodied.They trudge back with shopping, it is meant to be when a person with you is disabled. I have never seen one penalised & makes it awkward for deliveries.

Peter Yale ● 2833d

I definitely think that the Council should be setting an example here!

Philippa Bond ● 2833d

How many disabled spaces do they have and is this enough for all the elderly and disabled users who presumably will need to visit to sort out the problems with their Blue Badges?Or has getting these been made simpler nowadays for those entitled to them?

Philippa Bond ● 2833d