Issue - meetings

A petition has been received in the following terms:

“We believe that residents should be able to have the choice of what method they use for visitors’ permits and should not be forced to use the online system only.”

Lead petitioner: Joel Davidson.

Mr Joel Davidson presented a petition on behalf of residents of Brondesbury Park Ward concerning the decision in September 2012 to introduce cashless parking and to withdraw scratch cards as a payment option. Mr Davidson stated that the replacement on-line and smart phone service continued to cause problems for the some residents in particular the elderly.  Mr Davidson rejected the view that everyone who had visitors needed to get familiar with on-line systems and pointed to reports that residents frequently could not get through to the telephone helpline. Mr Davidson cited an example of anxiety an elderly resident, living alone without access to a computer or smart phone, whose visitors were no longer able to purchase parking permits from local shops. He urged the Executive to be more compassionate and reintroduce scratch cards, even via the post, given that parking shops had now closed.

The Chair (Councillor Butt, Leader of the Council) responded that in response to Central Government budget cuts the council was required to make substantial financial savings and drew attention to the £18m of savings required in 2014/15 referred to in the budget report due to be considered later in the evening. He stated that the council was not unusual in introducing on-line transactions and this was being introduced nationally in many areas including for Benefits and also Freedom Passes.

Councillor J Moher (Lead Member, Highways and Transportation) acknowledged that there had been some problems with the new service when first introduced and the council was working closely with the contractor to resolve them. He reminded Mr Davidson that there had been problems with the scratch card system which been subject to widespread abuse and the council had been forced to move to a more secure system. Arrangements had been introduced to assist vulnerable residents and it was now possible to apply for a visitor household permit that could be displayed on any vehicle and health, emergency and home visitors had already been addressed.