| Topic: | Dear Bassam | |
| Posted by: | Vlod Barchuk | |
| Date/Time: | 12/03/10 14:03:00 |
| Dear Bassam The one quality you possess (or at least the only one that is ever evident) is chutzpah. You and your colleagues have been happy to quote Phil’s blog out of context at Council meetings to make cheap points; so please remove the onion you are holding close to your eyes and spare everyone the guff about your four years of hurt. You dish it out, you take it like a man. Phil was not responsible for introducing CCTV enforcement outside Ealing Broadway. It happened when I was the relevant Cabinet member, in June 2007 – about a month after I’d taken on the portfolio. Council officers put the camera in and switched it on, because that’s the way they had always done things under the Labour administration – all completely legal. We changed the way CCTV enforcement was introduced; any new location had to have signage and warning notices issued to any vehicles caught in contravention for the first two weeks of enforcement. It was not our most glorious hour, but we learnt our lesson and took action to make sure this technically correct, but less than open, enforcement process did not happen again. How about comparing that with Labour’s record: a parking enforcement contract that gave the contractor a financial incentive to issue more tickets (and thus lots more tickets issued than currently); and on one occasion using a public safety CCTV camera on the Uxbridge Rd for traffic enforcement (something we do not allow). The camera raised I think a couple of £100Ks over the first few months of operation but this has declined to a minimal amount. The enforcement statistics for January 2010 (see http://www.ealing.gov.uk/services/transport_and_streets/parking/parking_tickets_and_fines/pcns_issued/index.html) show 9 PCNs issued around all sides of Haven Green, 4 of these through CCTV enforcement. No money for a £40M Integrated Transport Hub there. If you think that CCTV enforcement is such a bad idea outside the station, then Labour could make a manifesto commitment to remove the camera. But I suspect you’re more likely to just spout warm and meaningless words about having a ‘vision’ for the camera and ‘working’ with everyone about its future. |