BassamWe were criticised for introducing a camera at Ealing broadway at the time because we didn't do enough warning that it was coming on line, not because we didn't do any. If you park your car on a double yellow on the corner of your road and then go to bed, you can hardly be described as laying innocently in bed, especially if you make it harder for the ambulance or fire brigade to attend an night time emergency. We weren't caught red faced enforcing an oversized yellow box, the guidance from the department of transport was not clear and could be interpreted by different judges in different ways. you will learn that soon enough. How much did it cost you to refund the tickets in the yellow box junctions. Will you be refunding every ticket issued after the previous contractor had issued 177,000 tickets. Surely it is not right to incentivise a parking contractor in that way. How much would it cost you to refund over 200,000 tickets for the financial year 2005-06(you isssued over 380,000 that year, so any of the tickets issued after you had issued 177,000 could be entitled to a refund if we use your logic), which is more than we issue din all of 2009-10. On ths issue of night time enforcement, can you explain here please what exactly officers were doing during the night and why that is no longer needed. Why would you spend council taxpayers money promoting this new policy when it might actually endanger lives. You have gone to great lenghts and expense to tell people it is perfectly ok to park on corners of junctions on many of our narrow streets in ealing, possibly endangering peoples lives if there was a fire on their road and the fire brigade was delayed or couldn't get to the fire at all because you told people park wherever you want at night time. Please advise.As far as cpz charges doubling are concerned, it doesn't matter to anyone what neighbouring boroughs pay. Do neighbouring boroughs provide other services at a lower price to Ealing, and will you reduce what we charge in those areas to reflect that. I doubt it. What you have done with parking charges is the same as putting council tax up, but this works better for you, because you are the anti car party bassam. Just ask Ken Livingstone, he is on record as saying he hates cars. As far as stop and shops are concerned, i put 20 in Hanwell and am glad to see you trying to do that in Pitshanger lane. I am a big fan of stop and shop. I also put 10 in West Ealing when I chaired the Hanwell area committee which covered Elthorne ward too. As far as telling the people of ealing what we would have done in power, we have been trying to tell you this. We wouldn't be driven by a property strategy that will cost a small fortune, deliver nice facilities for officers while residents go without. E.G, the users of the Albert Dane centre. it is easy for me to say this because we refuesed officers advice four years to close this, you agreed to close it the minute you walked in the door. So much for your priority to protect the vulnerable. We would have found savings in the managment layer of the council first. You have started with staff further down the line. We would have looked very carefully at what was the best oftion for our housing service, including someone other than the council running it. We have paid Ealing Homes over £13m per annum to run that for the last 5 years +. When a contract that big is up for renewal, you get a few quotes. Anyone with any sense would know that. If you needed new radiators or a painting job done in your house you would get 3 quotes, but not this labour administration because you know best don't you. You decided for ideologial reasons to bring the service back in house. The last thing on your mind was how much is this going to cost and that is why you are having to put up parking charges and the rest, because the council taxpayer has to pay for your decisions and they are more expensive than our decision. Before you point out the lack of a link between parking charges and the housing revenue account, I am already aware of that. I am highlighting here how you make decisions and what you are riven by. It certainly isn't by what the residents need.
Colm Costello ● 5738d