The Evening Standard reports that last year Ealing was sixth worst in the league of London boroughs for parking appeals. Over 2,000 drivers had to take their parking disputes to appeal. In 29% of cases Ealing’s Parking Services did not contest the matter. Overall Parking Services lost 60% of cases. The best performing borough, Enfield, only had 257 appeals of which it won 65% – now that is performing. Ealing by contrast seems to be competing with Islington and Lambeth to fleece drivers.
Author: Phil
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Marxists rule the roost
Peter Hitchens totally made my day this morning on the Today programme. In a debate about the state of the left Peter Hitchens pointed out the success of the left by identifying that John Reid, the Defence Secretary, interviewed previously on troop withdrawls from Iraq had just quoted the Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci with “pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will”.
John Reid is one of those academic failures who annoy and confuse everyone else by calling themselves Doctor. His doctorate from Stirling University in Economic History is where the Marxism was learnt I guess.
The Evening Standard tonight published some figures from the Department for Education and Skills that were provided in a parliamentary answer. 11.3% of Ealing’s pupils are a private schools this is 21st equal in ranking. This puts us in the same league as Barnet, Croydon, Harrow, Merton and Southwark. 20 boroughs did better than Ealing with 12 getting down below the national average of 6.3%.
Ealing Conservatives yesterday announced that upon taking control of the Council they will immediately move an additional £1.8 million into the environment budget.
This sounds like good news for our battered environment that has been neglected throughout 12 years of a Labour council.
It should not be hard to do either. Next financial year the Council plans to spend £457,000 on its useless Around Ealing magazine that hits the recycing bin unread. It plans to spend £485,000 on the Tram. Finding the rest should be a doddle.
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Merger = cost?
Another of those public sector mergers cost us money stories from the Conservatives today. They have got hold of a leaked document from the Office of the John Prescott that shows that mergers of district and county councils might cost £358 per household. Private sectors mergers are usually predicated on cost savings. How is it that public sector mergers cost us money? You might think that merging would reduce overheads and quickly deliver savings to tax payers.
The Sunday Times today uses figures from the Central Office of Information annual report to have a go at Government spending on nannying, statement of the bleeding obvious advertising by Government. This spending has tripled since Labour came to power. £334 million in 2004-5 up from £111 million in 1997-8.
Going back to the annual report, the expensive pictures of plain, middle-aged people on pages 4 and 5 are typical of the breed and of no value whatsoever to taxpayers. Looking back on previous reports it is noteworthy that they have gone from plain to jazzy with lots of specially commissioned photos. This is brutally expensive and a total waste of money because they are not trying to sell themselves. We have no choice about using the services of these self-aggrandising twits.
These are the same figures used by the Telegraph back in October but they only included advertising not other activities. The message is the same though: spending up by a factor of three since Labour came to power.
It is perhaps natural, given the background of Labour council leader Leonora Thompson, that Ealing is currently ramping up its spending on communications. Instead of spending some £40,000 per annum on Around Ealing 4 times a year the whole thing is being upgraded to a monthly, even bi-weekly, publication that will cost almost £600,000 over two years.
To time this upgrade at the start of the year, a few months before local elections on May 4th, leaves the council open to the charge that it is using council spending in a political way.
The council’s plans envisage that the costs incurred will be partially offset by an increase in advertising revenue. The plans foresee advertising revenue rising from £19,500 to £185,000 in year. This raises two questions. Firstly, even the most aggressive private sector operation would be hard pressed to increase sales in this way. Can the council really hope to perform this well? Wishful thinking surely? Secondly, by taking revenue off local press the council will ensure that the papers have less cash to pay journalists’ salaries and we will be the poorer for not having the council held to account by the press.
Apparently £275,500 of this spending is going to be financed from the Response budget. You might think that this money could be re-deployed to fund frontline services rather then being used to puff the council. Using Response as a slush fund to subsidise political advertising is not a council taxpayers’ priority.
Council leader Leonara Thomson obviously thinks that if she spends enough of our money telling us how good Ealing council is we will eventually believe her.
Today the Ealing & Acton Gazette published a full page ad from the Metropolitan Police and Mayor of London promoting Safer Neighbourhoods. This is part of a wider campaign.
In Ealing we still only have 8 of 23 wards covered by these teams (see MPS site). It seems a little early to be be advertising these teams before they are all in place.
Furthermore both the ad in the Gazette and the radio ad show two policemen on the beat together. It seems that London’s streets are so dangerous that they cannot patrol alone.
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More Tram consultation, but quietly
Received Save Ealing’s Streets newsletter today. Apparently the Council is consulting on the Supplementary Planning Document (go to page 75) for the Tram. Consultation ends 10th February. Strange that this kind of thing is not on the Council’s homepage or do they want us not to notice that we have a another chance to stick our oars in?
See Ealing Times story.
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Camden goldmine
The Evening Standard tonight identifies one sign with a camera in Camden, at the intersection of Laystall Street and Clerkenwell Road, that has netted £759,000 in fines since July 2004. This is a council waste story because you can guarantee that they have not generated £759,000 in cash they can spend in the borough. You can bet they have converted the teeth grinding anger of thousands of London drivers into a few grand of surplus that will get spent on one or two more speed humps.
Phil Taylor 