Andrew Dismore

In an unusual move, Andrew Dismore London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden has welcomed the demand from Eric Pickles Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government that councils should come clean over their parking cash cow.

Mr Dismore said:

“Even the Conservative Government is getting worried about the scale of parking charges, which are impacting so badly on local businesses and traders. I very much welcome the Secretary of State’s intervention, so far as it goes, but this is not enough.

It’s about time he got off his backside and got stuck in to rip off councils like Barnet. He needs to tell them to get some common sense into parking charges, as Labour in Barnet have been demanding. We need a free period in shopping streets, to enable people to park and run their errands in our local centres. Residents parking schemes should have fair charges, to reflect their cost of enforcement not council profit.

I support the call of the North Finchley traders for a return to the parking meters and a lowering of charges. I would also like to see a festive parking amnesty in place in the run up to the holidays.

So Mr Pickles, increased transparency are all well and good, but the residents and traders of Barnet want to see some real action from you, not just fine words.”