The first you may know about any offence is when a penalty charge notice drops through your letter box.That’s because councils have the power to issue tickets through the post for offences caught on CCTV. The photo shows new camera installed on King Street, click on the image to enlarge.
We are all for lawful parking restrictions designed to expedite the flow of traffic and to make the roads safe, but like many other councils, Ealing does not appear to have missed out on the golden opportunity of milking the parking enforcement ‘cash cow’. The introduction of an additional 85 parking enforcement CCTV cameras exposes the council’s highly efficient drive to squeeze even more money out of residents.
If you ask Stacey, he will assure you that “no sir, Parking Services are not incentivised to generate revenue”. Of the 85 new enforcement cameras, 20 will be in Southall, and of the existing 101 enforcement cameras, 20 again are in Southall. Evidently, Ealing council can be highly efficient when it comes to milking a cash cow, while hiding behind high sounding mission statements. When it comes to delivering real and tangible improvements for the people of Southall, words such as “our aim is to become a high performing organisation, focussed on the needs of its communities” with no real action will suffice.
For years residents have been complaining about illegal parking outside the club on The Green in Southall, where people park on pavements, zebra crossings and even local resident’s parking spaces almost every weekend. So what action does Ealing take to address resident’s complaints? Nothing. Yes, nothing, revealing the double standards that Stacey and his cronies practice. If you ask the residents, they will tell you that it is more accurate to say that the aim of Ealing council is “to become a high performing organisation in order to fleece residents to the maximum.”
On the one hand the council is so efficient that it is be able to issue parking tickets by post with lightning speed for the most minor of offences, yet on the other hand it will allow people coming from outside the borough to Southall for entertainment to regularly and openly flout the law. And the council and police will not lift as much as a finger to address the problem. Now that is double standards.
Over 25% of the parking enforcement cameras are in Southall – perhaps this shows how much the council cares for us! Come on you Southall councillors, isn’t it time to stand up for Southall? Sadly, the concept of actively working to improve the quality of life for residents seems alien to many of the Southall councillors. One councillor has been reported as saying that “the only way to educate Southall residents is through the use of parking enforcement.” Sharma, another long standing Southall councillor, is still hanging on on to his position of councillor despite having been elected the MP for Ealing Southall at the recent by-election – he has not even bothered to attend the last four Southall Area Committee meetings (16/5/07, 19/9/07, 27/11/07, 23/1/08).
Click here for a list of existing and planned parking enforcement cameras in Southall.
Posted by geezer 
Posted by geezer 