Westminster are upping the rates charging people to park and introducing night charges
Westminster turn up the heat on city motorists
Westminster Council have decided that their transport system is failing and that the only way to fix it is to charge more generally but increase charges into the night, removing single yellow lines. Lee Rowley is the public face of Westminsters charging strategy and he's towing the party line.
That hasn't stopped fellow Conservative supporters speaking out against his 'ludicrous' attitude to business. Peter Stringfellow rang LBC's Ian Dale and espoused how disaterous this would be for his employees, a fellow Soho businessman explains how 300 jobs will be lost because of this action too and Nutsville has recorded the show 'here': http://nutsville.com/download/LBC_Ian-Dale_29-Sept-2011_WCC_parking.wma
It Seems that Lee Rowley and the Council are way out of synchronicity with their businesses in the affected areas. Past research shows that since the Congestion Charge came in footfall for businesses fell (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-5007517-congestion-charge-hammers-shops.do) and while it may have crept up again, the thing that concerns some business is not only the charge but also the timing of its introduction, on the 1st of December!
The bottom line must be that charging those who park in certain areas of the West End in the evening is going to hurt people and businesses. Those that have to work in the evenings probably aren't the people who can afford £4.80 a hour to park. If they don't take their cars, can they rely on the underground to get them home in the early hours? Would you rely on it at that time or even want to use it at that time? What if you had to carry something, like an instrument?
Moving on, we have seen how business is affected with tyhe Congestion Charge and how commerce moved out of the zone and intot he surrounding areas. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why business is unhappy too, maybe people won't visit. Maybe the Westminster Parking Zones of E,F and G will become areas just for the rich and famous the play in?
For more details please see Nutsville 'here': http://nutsville.com/?p=3467
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