And here's how Richmond council enforces parking...

With a mobile camera car (an all new Toyota IQ, probably replacing the Smart cars?), parked on a double yellow line.

This is of course timed to cash in on parents dropping kids at school.

Note that there's no lollipop man at Marshgate school, the council's priority is clearly revenue generation rather than safety...
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Park Tax

As I was writing earlier (here Sign the petition to keep Richmond park free and there Another petition, for Bushy park) it seems that there will be another place (after it was imposed that it would no longer be free to park in Richmond on Sundays) where you can't escape the Parking tax:

London Royal Parks parking fees approved (on freetopark.co.uk)
I hope Susan Kramer will keep on the fight.

Some think it's a good thing, I view this as NIMBY (see my comment on the post): Parking charges approved for Royal Parks :-).
But overal parking charges in the park are hugely impopular. An unwanted impact is that the Borough will inevitably extend the Sheen CPZ to cover Fife road as it will be used by park-goers instead of the Sheen Gate car park. That's parking tax contagion!

See also my previous posts: Kingston hospital parking and Blatant hypocrisy over parking spaces

richmond, park, parking, richmondtransits.blog

Another petition, for Bushy park

Just got this email from Mich Miller about Bushy park.

Not much to add, except that I still have to figure out why Royal Parks, local and national government have this obsession about taxing down to the individual users, via things as ludicrous as road charging: are we going to have to put coins in lamp posts for street lighting?

In my opinion, there are things to be enjoyed by all that should be financed by the Nation, such as coastlines (read: maintaining flood barriers), nature reserves (Royal Parks), a transportation system that reduces pollution (canals, trains, etc...). And it seems it's always about making one thing more expensive and not the alternative cheaper.

Rip Off Britain?

Could I draw your attention to another petition (mine) against the proposed car parking charges for the deer parks. Mine encompasses Bushy Park as well as Richmond. We are likely to be herded into a new (and I suspect smaller) car park round the new "visitor centre". This will mean having to cross the access road to get onto the grassy park - daangerous for toddlers and dogs. If you would include the link in your blog I would be grateful.

it is: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Deerparkparking

Cheers

Mich Miller

Sign the petition to keep Richmond park free

Probably inspired by Richmond Council's never ending quest to extract more taxes from motorists, the Royal Parks has launched a consultation on whether it should charge for parking.

After free parking on Sunday being removed, the steep increases for Kew Gardens concessions, it's another blow for our purchasing power.

The detailed documents are on Royal Parks' web site:

• Park parking consultation document
• Draft impact assessment

I'm not sure what the real intent is, apart from the stated goal of "encouraging people to travel by public transportation" (which is daft as no busses go to Richmond Park). What is true is that the car parks are full at week ends, especially since they made the one at Pen Ponds about half the size (and tarmac'ed) as before.

The impact of charges, apart from the obvious bite in people's wallet (especially for OAP's), would be:

• Parking congestion around East Sheen, Ham and Roehampton gates, where there's currently no CPZ (of course, this would be a great excuse for Richmond Council to tax us more with a CPZ extension)
• Parents with young children would also find it difficult to travel to the park by public transport

Here are my alternative suggestion:

• Remove the snack food outlets in Pen Ponds, Kingston gate and Broomfield parkings: those vans with German licence plates, complete with their Polish employees, do nothing for the public health, especially as they're powered by noisy and smelly diesel generators.

Go on and sign the Petition to take action against a proposal to charge for car parking in Richmond Park on Number10.gov.uk


Read also:

• Richmond Park Parking Charges Could Cause Chaos For Local (LibDems)
• Drivers' anger at charge for using Richmond Park (Evening Standard)

richmond, park, parking, richmondtransits.blog

Highway Robbery In Richmond

BBC NEWS | England | London | Loading bay takes £1,400 in fines

A London council has taken an average of £1,400 in parking fines per day from a single loading bay, it has emerged.

Over 20 months 10,000 fines were incurred at the St Margarets Road bay in Twickenham, south-west London.



Not much to add, the council continues to see cars as giant piggy banks.

Tags: richmond, parking, automobile, richmondtransits.blog

The parking rip-off continues in Richmond

It seems the bright sparks in our council are doing all they can to extract more money from motorists and kill local business:

• after charging for parking on week-ends (it used to be free, remember?)
• employing aggressive or scary parking attendants to enforce unclear rules
  
• charging for CO2 emissions when cars are not polluting (parking by CO2 emissions, just as a memo to the council, CO2 is NOT a pollutant)
• introducing spy cars, often parked illegally to fine you when unloading

... and now, Richmond Council proposes extending emission based charging. Of course, there are no details as to how this will be implemented, for instance for old cars, bought way before all that CO2 emission nonsense (read Focussing on CO2: good for bears, bad for humans?). More annoyingly, all cars will need to be registered first, at a cost of £2.50.

I predict this will put off many casual shoppers, who will go to Kingston insead -that's much revenue lost of local shops.

Being greener is a laudable goal, but I am annoyed at getting the tax stick every time. Here's what I suggest:

• introduce a proper, safe and segregated from cars, cycling network, without interruptions, for instance on Lower and Upper Richmond roads
  
• introduced safe (monitored and patrolled), sheltered bicycle parkings at all stations and public buildings (such as Richmond library or Sheen Lane Center which was revamped without such a parking lately
• remove many cul de sacs that force motorists to take detours and emit more CO2
• introduce shared spaces for car-pedestrian-cycle spaces in central Richmond, around the Green
• introduce a cyle-hire scheme, like the Vélib
• give council tax cuts for those insulating their houses or installing green roofs -the current national guidelines are far too low
  

Is that enough?

richmond, parking, environment, green, urbanism, traffic, richmondtransits.blog

Parking in Richmond

Another parking post, after the one on Kingston hospital parking: I need not to add much to the picture apart that I was taking my child to the Doctor's surgery and ended up putting a pound for 15 mn.

It seems that councils are seeing parking as a goldmine: they're using private agencies to aggressively enforce it, brought in charges on Sunday and taxing cars that don't pollute as they're not moving when parked...

Kingston hospital parking

You'd better not be in a rush to go to Kingston Hospital.

Firstly, it's badly signposted as there are no signs from Kingston hill (A308) to turn into Galsworthy road. No map on their web site either, as they "We strongly recommend that patients and visitors use public transport to get to the hospital."

That's fine more most, maybe more difficult if you're sick or pregnant and about to deliver. Which are some of the reasons people may want to go to hospital.

Then to make it worse, they shrunk the car park when they extended the hospital (they probably did not think about locating a parking under the new building?) and you need to have change as they charge you £1.5/hour. It's not only an inconvenience to patients, but also to the staff it seems: Demo over hospital parking fees (BBC).

I think the Scots are smarter: NHS car parking charges abolished (BBC Scotland)

car, hospital, transportation, richmond, richmondtransits.blog