I often see people wrestling with the latest technology in Council car parks. It is not just the elderly or the technology challenged. Quite often the newer systems do not work, or require several attempts to find the way to unlock their iron grip over whether you can get in or out of the park. My constituents keep me informed of their daily struggles and their car park paying nightmares.
    Locally some have recently experienced the hospital car park where the number plate recognition to let you out when you have paid does not always work. They had to put in an employee standing by the exit ready to check you had paid and then to manually override the exit barrier control. Another complainant told me she drove to a car park, tried several times to pay without success and so left the car park frustrated to find somewhere else that would take her money. She was then fined for being too long in the first car park without paying! The last station car park I used required me to pay before travelling. It refused to accept my credit card contactless, it refused to accept it with the number typed in, yet the card paid readily for other items before and after these bruising rejections. Fortunately that car park had a cash option which did work.
     Many Councils are pursuing an anti road vehicle strategy. If you manage to negotiate the mushrooming sets of traffic lights, the complex junctions, the restricted lanes, the changing hours of regulated uses, the road closures, the neighbourhood limitations, the incessant changes of speed limit, the cycle and bus lanes and the widened kerbs and pavements you may end up in a car park out to thwart you at journey’s end. Visiting a cathedral city recently I was directed out to a car park which said it catered for longer term stays, only to find a queue of people wrestling with the technology to pay. In the sunshine it was difficult to make out the messages on an unhelpful and often malfunctioning touch screen. A visitor will stay longer and spend more in a town if the parking arrangements are friendly and sensibly priced. If car parks in town centres are geared to under two hours of parking people will not have the time both to go to the shops and buy a meal.
    Councils just do not want to accept many of us have good reasons to take to the car or van. You cannot do your weekly shop going to the store by train as you could not carry and stow all the items you bought. The car boot does the job well. An electrician, plumber, builder or other service provider to your home needs to arrive by van with the tools and materials in the back. Given the deliberate delays and congestion Councils create on our streets they book fewer engagements to allow for the increased journey time. They are worse off, prices go up and more people are frustrated. if you want to take a family in for a meal or the cinema the car may be the only realistic option, particularly at weekends or evenings with reduced public transport.
      The ultras in parties of the left who condemn the road vehicle seem to forget that the food they eat is taken to the shops by large lorry, and delivered to homes by van. They forget that the power they turn on and the water in their tap is maintained by engineers who need vehicle access to installations. When they do get to the local shops they forget that without the trade of people who go there by car the shops would fold for insufficient business. We see too many declining shopping streets and centres in our towns, the casualties of too few customers. Stopping people going there on impulse and preventing easy and cheap or free parking is part of the reason for the shuttered properties and the decline of prosperity. So many Councils seem to think they need to charge us a fortune for us to park on Council owned land, land we paid for as taxpayers in the first place! Instead of wanting to serve the public ,plenty of left wing Councils want to fleece us.
      So what is the answer? Keep it simple. I usually welcome new technology. Mobile phones and internet communication have enhanced our lives . I see the advantages of the sat nat over a map book. Not all new technology however is better if it is unduly complex and slows you down. Touch screens are difficult in sunshine where a button to press would solve the problem. Putting cash or card into a simple parking ticket machine works well. Paying by cash or card on exit against a record stating the time of your arrival works well. Making you download an app, entering your index number and then relying on vehicle identification technology greatly increases the chances of something going wrong as well as slowing you down. It is clearly dearer and more complex technology to install.   Councils should change their mentality on car parks . Instead of seeing them as big sources of revenue and opportunities to make our lives worse they should be a service we need in order to support and encourage flourishing town centres. Paying should be easy and include a cash option.
April 8, 2023
Do you remember that programme ‘Grumpy old men ‘ ? This is what it was all about.The older generation having learned about life and social structure through experience understand the need for direct, clear and simple organisation.We are not honed into pixelated ideas which don’t cater for the whole Idea or story but rather see the whole flow of matters. Today, along comes a designer,the idea is accepted without regard to contextual importance and whether ,in the case of new technology, it will work under all conditions and continue to do so for many years.
April 8, 2023
+1
No.
They just donât want us driving.
The End.
April 8, 2023
Who are “they”?
April 8, 2023
Well, the Lib Dem controlled Council here in Wokingham for a start NLH.
Grand plans for 20mph zones on already busy roads, with road ‘narrowing’ and new cycle lanes. In the meantime, in the real world our roads are full of pot-holes. The roads here have never been this bad. One of the busiest roads near us is like a country track, the surface is so bad. The LDs have also just increased town centre parking charges too, much to the delight of local traders I’m sure. Parking in the larger Supermarkets is of course still free, so why use the town centre?
April 8, 2023
And don’t forget lib dems changing rubbish collection to once every two weeks… And no bags for waste food – I guess all those expensive plastic containers will end up in land fill.
April 8, 2023
Take a wild guess.
April 8, 2023
trannies.
April 8, 2023
NLH – “they” are people like you.
April 8, 2023
The far left green brigade- our enemy!
April 8, 2023
We live in a democracy. The answer is to form a party with a policy to make parking affordable or free.
Come up with a plan to reduce waste in local council spending and use the money saved on making the town centres more attractive to shoppers.
My policy would be to use technology to Compete with other town centres and online shopping. For example automatic computer cameras would scan your number plate and if you spent ÂŁ10 or more in the town centre per hour then tell the cashier your number plate and the parking would be free otherwise you would need to pay per hour when you exited the car park.
April 8, 2023
You would still need something to open the barrier.
April 8, 2023
Welcome to Surveillance UK
April 8, 2023
I can’t really see why traders would want to put barriers up for potential customers whether or not they end up buying. Perhaps traders and council should get together to pay the costs to attract cars without all this costly malarkey?
As for the complicated road systems; for a small town, Wokingham has turned into a mental maze to get from one point to another.
April 8, 2023
S J S
I think that all traders are going to have much more to worry about than parking vehicles. Still at this rate there will be no need for transport because they will be hardly any shops open. How many jobs will this cost?
Reported in the Telegraph and highlighted in NaLoPKT
Net zero rules saddle high street with âdisastrousâ ÂŁ90bn upgrade bill
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/net-zero-rules-saddle-high-street-with-disastrous-90bn-upgrade-bill/ar-AA19A530
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2023/04/08/net-zero-rules-saddle-high-street-with-disastrous-90bn-upgrade-bill/
April 8, 2023
Councils want the short-term car parking revenue rather than the long-term percentage of the business rate revenue â how we fund councils needs reform ….their focus isn’t on service its on taxation and revenue
April 8, 2023
Tesco has no barriers and does not set one site to compete with others.
April 8, 2023
No, we donât. The majority of people do not want high levels of immigration. They are ignored.
The majority think banning ICE cars by 2030 is absurd. They are ignored.
The majority are fed up with boats coming across the channel. They are ignored.
I could go on and on. You get the picture. We have a veneer of democracy. Thatâs all.
April 8, 2023
Our council has driven away so many parkers from our neighbourhood that the meter maids don’t bother with it any more. However, the council still won’t let the householders they clobber with colossal council tax have tokens for their visitors and workmen, despite the empty streets.
**********************************************************************************
Hark at the cross party establishment stampede to defend their man the Usurper from Labour smears! And what a contrast all round with what happened each time Boris was smeared from 2016 onwards. Then they joined in and got the public parroting the smears as well.
April 8, 2023
It is all part of the multifaceted war on motorists and mobility. They also prefer to trick you into a fine of ÂŁ60 rather than just charge you ÂŁ2. They do the same with bus lanes, hatch junctions etc. Furthermore they like apps as they can then collect you data and sell it or use it to market things to you and to waste hours of your time. All parking should be operated by coins and credit/debit cards. Better still you should pay at the end and not have to decide how long you need in advance as you clearly do not know in advance how long it will take you.
April 8, 2023
Paying at the end at a manned booth was the best idea. Who wants to decide in advance how long they will stay ?
Nowadays you might as well go to a big mall with free parking, or go up town to the West End if you cannot easily park locally.
I note paying by cash is getting far more difficult and banks and building society branches are disappearing. We used to have lots of them. Now the one remaining Nationwide branch is closing on Monday and Thursday and the staff will be manning phones instead. I hate phoning banks and building societies with the tiresome âpress this numberâ and âwe are sorry for the delayâ routine. Partial closure is often the precursor to full closure.
High Streets are being stripped of useful shops and facilities – instead there are multiple fast food places. We might as well not bother with them.
April 8, 2023
Fast food, cafes, nail bars, hair dressers, charity shops or boarded up! Not helped by almost total police inaction on shoplifter, muggers, drug dealers, vandals, graffitiâŠ
April 8, 2023
but they would have to leave the comfort of the office or car.
April 8, 2023
Your party’s in power and for convenience turns a political blind eye to this fascist grip these lefty leaches have over our lives
THE TORIES ARE APPEASING THE LEFT AND THE NATION IS PAYING THE PRICE
April 8, 2023
+many
I saw an article in the Express in the last day or so, suggesting that the govt. pays ( ÂŁ3 million was quoted) groups of people to oppose the Rwanda scheme. Presumably so it canât carry it out.
Maybe they just all are Labour? Well..socialist probably?
âNo10 gave more than ÂŁ3m in taxpayer cash to groups campaigning against Rwanda migrant planâ
Daily Express.
April 8, 2023
Cuibono
Taxpayers money should not be used to assist any organisation that operates in anyway that could be considered detrimental to safety and welfare of the country. Any charities not purchasing major items like transport, office equipment will lose their non taxable status.
April 8, 2023
Agree 100%
Well said!
April 8, 2023
Dom,
The conservatives in Parliament are in large part the left.
April 8, 2023
@DOM Almost all of those that use the label Tories especially those that have control of our Government, are politicly well left of Labour. They would embarrass Corbyn. They may have stood in elections as Conservative, they may have hijacked the Conservative Government right under the noses of the Conservative Party. But, they are not even remotely Conservative.
You have to wonder that all those true blue real Conservative Party supporters that get out and knock on doors at election time feel to know they are selling falsehoods, telling lies. Simply because the people they are supporting are not supporting the but some weird Socialist Centralist Cabal that has stolen their Party.
What has that to do with Car Parks, think it through â Socialist Control at all costs.
April 8, 2023
Agreed DOM.
However, for some considerable time, I no longer see left and right, Tory and Labour plus other associated leftist parties. What I now see is the establishment vs the people.
This has been brought home to me by rotten legislation that has gone through parliament almost unanimously like NZ & CC. Then watching the renewal of the draconian Corona Virus Act being laughed through parliament. The empty chamber when unprecedented harm and deaths from ‘vaccination’ is revealed in speeches by Andrew Bridgen. The empty chamber when Sir Christopher Chope makes a speech about the ‘vaccine’ injured. Them and us!
April 8, 2023
A contributing factor is good old fashioned incompetence and poor quality standards, ie, councils are just slack. At one time the picture painted by Sir John applied to supermarket checkouts – the self-service ones were easy to identify because they would have two or three staff trying to help a customer use them. But supermarkets have competition. Councils don’t. Why not mandate – the Councils would never do this on their own initiative – that a contractor can not manage more than one car park within a radius of 5 or so miles? That would introduce competition. Users of cars would then be converted overnight into paying customers and if not statisfied they could park elsewehere.
April 8, 2023
In Wrexham a lot of the city carparks are chargeable upto 1100hrs and after that free. The office worker can get in early pay a low hourly rate and not have to worry about feeding meters.
Park and ride is very good as long as you are not purchasing heavy or awkward goods. The cheaper the ease for parking the higher the footfall in the shopping areas. Everything is geared up for out of town retail parks. With more and more banks closing that will impact on the footfall density.The small shop keepers in Girvan Main Street all commented as the banks closed the customer numbers dropped. Older people had a reason to visit meet up with friends and socialise and do mini shopping walks with friends and finishing up in the teashop. Days of a community life long passed.
April 8, 2023
Our nation managed without parking meters until 1958, when the first was placed outside the US embassy. Our population was then under 52 million. Going to hospital involved being looked after with care, not being obstructed with cryptic video puzzles, charged and penalised further solely for trying to enter.
April 8, 2023
This has and is happening under a so-called Conservative Government, which has ramped up a war on the motorist over the past 13 years.
Funding for many of these anti-car schemes comes directly from the DfT. And when it comes to a war on the motorist, Conservative Councils are almost as bad as Labour ones.
The Westminster Uni-Party is in denial about the consequences of continuing to push the Net Zero lunacy and trying to force us out of our cars, which will mean the economy will grind to a halt.
April 8, 2023
+1
People still say â Oh they canât do that. How will folk get to work/school/the Drs etc etc.â
They miss the point. The whole idea is to stop us doing anything.
The left wing mill grinds very small.
People who want to see less traffic probably do not want to see the entire economy crash.
But those pulling the strings do and their grist is basically a form of protectionism.
If you donât do this then the planet will burn!
What was that? â Scare the pants off themâŠ.â
April 8, 2023
Paying for parking is a symptom of too many people in the country. Before then it was normal to park on the side of the road near to or immediately outside the premises you were visiting, or park on freely-available space provided nearby.
Old filing cabinets storing too many folders didn’t work either. Every file entered or removed caused a struggle. However, removing a few folders enabled all others to be accessed easily.
April 8, 2023
+++many
And I remember huge free car parks.
Why shouldnât parking be free?
April 8, 2023
+1
April 8, 2023
Funnily enough the owners of a hugh multi-storey car park in North Shields would love to open it for free parking, but they have huge rates to pay on it and thus cannot afford to do so.
So the council has instead spent ÂŁ18 million on, among other things, a new bus station.
April 8, 2023
Then there are those of us who have switched back to our old Nokia, no APPS, to ensure it is not used as a tool of government to track and control us.
A fat lot of good all these electronics will be in a power outage, a certainty with the advance of government energy policy, or lack thereof.
Why is it that anyone, be it council or business, is allowed to refuse payment for goods or services with cash which, the last time I looked was still LEGAL CURRENCY.
Keep it simple.
April 8, 2023
I liked my Nokia, it would run for a week or more without needing charging. I have very few ‘apps’ on my new all singing & dancing phone except the key one (WhatsApp) which let’s us stay in touch with family. WhatsApp is the only bit of modern technology that my wife is really good with, she uses it to get updates on our Grandchildren. Daily updates are required. đ If some genius at Nokia produced a phone with just a calculator, camera and Whats App terminal – I’d take two straight away.
April 8, 2023
Spot on! A burner phone, ÂŁ4.50.
April 8, 2023
I do hope that all the unhelpful businesses, all the rude, smug, brainwashed tradesmen who have overseen all of this, suddenly wake up and realise exactly how it will impact on them.
The people who have silently and slyly installed toilets that donât flush properly, lights that donât illuminate properly, heaters, washing machines, tumble dryers ditto.
All because some potty course or other has told them they must play their part in saving the planet.
They wonât be driving or parking or working when all they have cheered on comes to pass.
April 8, 2023
Unfortunately, Mr Blair decided that it would be great if 50% of our children went to university. So we converted our Technical Colleges to Uni’s and shut down our trade training schemes, so that we could educate Armies of unemployable graduates who have no practical use. Now we don’t have enough plumbers, electricians, bricklayers – you name it.
Good generals know that Armies live or die based on how good the planning and logistics are. We have leaders who spout grand schemes (how many new houses, EV charging points, improved home insulation, heat pumps etc have they promised?) when they clearly haven’t thought about the practical manpower needs of such schemes and won’t be honest about the costs.
The “Department for Energy Security and Net Zero” Really?
You couldn’t make that up – except someone did. God help us all
April 8, 2023
+1
April 8, 2023
+many
Amen to that!
Very true.
April 8, 2023
I share your frustrations. I parked in my local town recently and found that numerous meters were taken up with people unable to work out how to use them. They weren’t all elderly either. I tried to help one couple who were visiting the area and after 5 mins of trying to pay by card as they had no coins we all had to give up. The cost of parking had increased so I not only didn’t have enough for myself to park for the time I wanted but couldn’t help them either. All car parks are different too. If you are going to buy difficult to carry items delivery isn’t always available so using our local park and ride isn’t always an option. We are fortunate that after 5.30 the car park is free and I think that’s due to the fact that we have no buses after this time going anywhere after 6pm. That’s ok if you are going to the cinema or for a meal but no good if you are shopping as everything is closed. Our city centre is a ghost town in the evenings as getting home after a night out is hard as there are very few taxis. Most people want to enjoy one or two drinks but with no public transport many don’t bother. Don’t even talk to me about parking in hospitals. Our once an hour bus doesn’t go anywhere near the hospital so a car is the only option. Finding a space is often impossible and the charges are extortionate. I take my husband and have to drop him off and then go and park up elsewhere and wait for him to call me to pick him up. I went to one hospital which was so far out of town with major roads surrounding it and after 15 mins of following other people trying to park I gave up. I had to park 2 miles away in a shopping area with only 2 hours parking allowed. I just had enough time as my husbands procedure was lengthy. To summarise, parking is a bloody nightmare and those running the system haven’t a clue.
April 8, 2023
Correct!
April 8, 2023
Our local town dropped its car parking charges a couple of years ago. It is now booming, full of cafes, restaurants and independent shops. It’s turned from a dead town to a vibrant one.
April 8, 2023
I’m told Ealing works well too.
April 8, 2023
My council introduced car parking charging at the shopping and leisure areas …both are now dead
April 8, 2023
Good for them. Some sensible people in charge then.
April 8, 2023
My reply was to Christine.
April 8, 2023
It’s about time councils showed some consideration for motorists.
April 8, 2023
Motorists, to local councils, are both the cash cow to be bled dry and also the enemy. Voters need to elect honest and sensible councillors but this agenda is also largely driven by this moronic ConSocialists and Mayâs deluded Net Zero insanity. A bill nodded through by MPs without even a vote. Deluded group think insanity.
April 8, 2023
Agree with with your sentiments Sir JR. But Gov. has the power to change this. It could start by removing the scandalous system of charging to park at a hospital in England.
Scotland and Wales of course scrapped their charges long ago.
Just one example of the many democratic deficits impacting England. Something you USED to be passionate about.
April 8, 2023
@Old Albion +1
April 8, 2023
Old Albion
I do wonder how much of the hospital parking fees actually end up as a net benefit to the Trust?
Take out all the personnel involved , the hiring of pay stations, administration and maintenance of the car park itself, bet there is a very low return to the actual Trust.
April 8, 2023
Your government leading the war on motorists, actually every one really. Property owners, landlords, companies in office blocks, individuals wanting a shower, anyone stupid enough to be financially prudent etc.
With the NHS service levels at crisis point I cannot think of one positive contribution it makes to my life.
April 8, 2023
Nigl
+1
April 8, 2023
@Nigl +1
April 8, 2023
+1
April 8, 2023
Hear, hear !
April 8, 2023
Towns and the businesses in them require customers to survive. If they do not survive councils do not get the income from those businesses. Most visitors to towns arrive by car, so cars need safe accessible car parks. The most frequently visited car park in my town has camera number plate recognition entry and exit, an array of pay machines into which you enter the car number and pay by bank card, contactless or by card number entry. I also think cash payment is possible, but I have never used it. It is almost impossible to conceive of vehicle ownership without a bank card. It works, I would suggest it be universally adopted.
My only addition to such a system would be to incorporate free parking for the first two hours and perhaps three hours for those with a blue badge. I would increase off street parking and prohibit on street parking, taxis and delivery vehicles being an exception. You could then get rid of traffic wardens, but use a local police force to sanction towing to a pound for street parking abusers. I have following continental experience advocated a local police force to enhance local harmony and a national police force to deal with serious crime.
I do not expect it to happen in a UK riddled with incompetence. Just look at the myriad systems we have for dealing with rubbish.
April 8, 2023
Excellent ideas there, Agricola, but is there enough of an incentive for local authorities to help businesses to keep going? Nearly 8 years ago, the Tory Government announced its intention to enable local government to retain all business rates raised locally. It hasn’t fulfilled on that promise.
April 8, 2023
It seems the council whiz kids have to be up with the fashion and use ‘apps’ and the machine manufacturers have sold them on this idea. The simple solution is to install machines which take contactless cards. For once, I feel our old fashioned countryside council has it right. Seems like the posh big town ones have it all wrong.
In our local hospitals, they have recently installed parking machines inside, airport style where you pay and have a limited time to get to the car and get out before the barrier refuses to lift. This is wonderful if you have a disability or are a bit slow and in most cases as the barriers don’t always work you are on the end of a queue to get out and sweating on whether your exit time will expire before you get to the barrier. Everything is about money now, no compassion, no understanding, just assume everyone is young and has all the right phones and apps. Wouldn’t be so bad if the technology worked properly, but like EV’s they want to insist on it all before it is bug free.
April 8, 2023
I know lots of people without a âsmart-phonesâ that avoid shopping or leisure areas for parking âŠonce again if you canât afford the latest smart-phone or indeed canât understand or use its appâs functions, or haven’t any data youâre lost in this society, the society of the elderly and poor âŠjust like the EVs
April 8, 2023
What could be more simple than putting in the hours you want and then being able to either flash a card across the machine (like in a shop) or put the money in? Why do they have to be so complicated? Then sometimes not work at all.
April 8, 2023
Brilliant! I do hope the Conservative Government will deal with these problems immediately. It is ridiculous that people are expected to have a smart phone to carry on living a normal life. All your points are absolutely correct. I do hope that this article gets published in Wokingham Today so that your consituents realise you are working for them in Parliament, which they do not appear to . This will affect those standing in the local elections where the effect of Conservatives not being in control of the Councils has not yet been fully understood..
April 8, 2023
Maybe the next conservative government could sort it out !
April 8, 2023
You describe the minutiae of the problem when the root causes are the non-application of market principles.
* Councils often monopolise parking provision and control local planning, an apparent conflict of interest.
* DVLA has a special dispensation from GDPR to give out personal details of motorists to parking operators.
Why do the rules that apply to the rest of commerce not apply to parking?
To fix this, make it the councils’ duty to ensure an excess of parking places to provide it free. They should ensure a competitive market between independent operators if this is impossible. Apply GDPR to giving out personal data for parking.
April 8, 2023
You don’t even mention design faults in carparks. The too small lanes between rows of parked cars is further affected by the 90 degree bays. Cars have to be backed out until the driver judges, not always easy, that the front is clear of the adjacent car to begin turning the wheel, increasing the risk front and back of hitting a parked car. Why don’t designers make the bays at say 60 degrees to direction of exit – so much easier to reverse out. Also there should be single lanes -one-way route, so cars can park facing forward both sides of the one-way?
Reply Yes, I hAve argued that case with Councils re car parks to maximise numbers and make it easier to park.
April 8, 2023
reply to reply…Excellent! However, the message needs to go to building designers who also shape the carpark and determine (planning!) permissable spaces accordingly.
April 8, 2023
Excellent points.
April 8, 2023
One question, a big question. Why are Parking Apps collecting personal data, then monetizing it? The App may be free to car park owners, but it is more than the parking fee that is collected by the App provider from the car park user.
Then add in most data is held, collated and moved on outside of all UK Legal Jurisdiction. As with most internet wise said to be free, it is not to the user it is just âclick-baitâ so they can be farmed.
April 8, 2023
If we canât drive or park we will have to move into cities. Those terrible high rise eco smart cities.
Which is exactly what the powers that be want.
âQuo te, Moeri, pedes? An, quo via ducit, in urbem?â Virgil speaking of mass migration to the city.
Here they also did it in the mid to late 18th century. It suited those in charge to force us into their factories.
Now they want us crammed into as small a space as possible, consuming as little as possible and totally under control.They also want our data though God alone knows why since we will scarcely be consumers!
And much worse I dare say. Much, much worse.
April 8, 2023
In our town someone has put up electric signage which usually displays useless information. I am not the only driver round here who gets angry when the sign says “Consider walking or using a bicyle”.
Instead of winding us up with stupid signs why don’t they put the money that cost us towards filling the holes in the road?
April 8, 2023
Big advert for the second smallest city in England El, stopped their last year on the way to our rented holiday home, parking free all day, every day, shops were rammed, no vacant shops, ended up stopping for over 2 hours had a nice lunch and walk along the river, a nice relaxing way to break journey, stopped their on our return journey as well to visit the cathedral.
This is how England used to be 50 years ago, go where you want, at a time you wanted, with no time limits or restrictions.
I clearly understand that given the situation now with the population having grown by 20% or more, and with more cars on the road we need some sort of management control, but I think we have now gone way too far with charges and taxes.
Is it a surprise that out of town garden centres with refreshment facilities are rammed with people, no cost to park, no time limit. etc etc.
April 8, 2023
Should have said ELY.
April 8, 2023
John it will not surprise you learn that at a local Town Centre Management Committee meeting I was attending (as a representative of a Local Charity) we had a Wokingham Borough Councillor trying to explain the reasons behind the latest increase in Car park charges (to pay for road maintenance).
After he finished he then asked could he also have ideas on how to improve footfall in the Town Centres, as that was dropping !
What a bloody clown !
I certainly agree the roads are in a dire state, in fact never been so bad in my lifetime, but this sort of illogical thinking, just shows the complete disconnect of balance sheet theory against reality.
Bye the way, I advised him to reduce the car park charges rather than increase them !
April 8, 2023
I have a sneaking suspicion that’s the reason for the roads being in such terrible condition in my county is because the repair of them is entirely dependent on the widespread use of fossil-based fuels, E.G. gas burners, diesel or petrol powered compactors and tarmac, all counter to the pipe dreams of the ‘green the planet’ ill-informed crowd who now sit in positions of authority at all levels of government. The excuse given that there is a lack of money hardly stands up when one looks at the huge increases in taxation at government and local government levels.
April 8, 2023
So under the Tories its back to the era of cobblestone roads, peasant labour and eating gruel
April 8, 2023
All of the points raised this morning are valid ones . I leave all of the shopping to my wife – she has more patience than mine . Another complaint I have experienced is attempting to use my Credit Card ; sometimes it has been rejected while at the same time it has been accepted ! ( I have never been a credit risk or not had quite a reasonable Bank balance ! ).
April 8, 2023
Sir John
In light of the despairing tone of many of the respondents to your daily entries could you please ask the government to pay for the rebranding and issuing of the old pop song:-
Don’t worry be happy, to be released as
Have nothing be happy.
Just think of the air time it would get and the royalties it would pay into the treasury.
April 8, 2023
Brilliant Turbo. Really made me laugh. Just a shame it’s true.
April 8, 2023
Clearly!
There is only one reason for this war against motorists if we ignore the extra revenue gathering element; Net-Zero.
It would seem that councils, with some persuasion from central government, are spending vast sums to restrict movement and make life very difficult for the motorist, all in the name of alleged climate change. To say that those in authority have gone mad is an under-estimate.
The people who are supposed to make rational decisions that serve us cannot see the smoke for the mirrors.
I cannot see any of this improving – not with the amount of propaganda HMG puts out – The controlling elites are determined to send us back to the dark days of the past while they live like lords!
April 8, 2023
My apologies in advance Sir John
Picking up on your âTweetâ@johnredwood and the Mediaâs view of the ‘vile’ advert attacking Rishi Sunak – It should have said…
âDo you thing the leader of the Conservative Party should be a Conservative? Rishi Sunak doesnâtâ
April 8, 2023
@Ian B
[ Think ]
April 8, 2023
Your article sums up the attitude of not just councils but the Government as well. We are living with those in authority determined to make life as difficult as possible. From the disgraceful freezing of tax allowances to car parks life just gets tougher all the time.
With great respect Sir John, what are you doing about it? How about a private members bill making free parking mandatory UK wide? It may not succeed, but it would raise the issue & at least start people thinking about it. Why do MPs & Councillors make life difficult for us when they must also be affected in their daily lives?
April 8, 2023
The systems you describe are simple and can easily be made to work. But think that possibly they are working as the customer demanded – I.e. to ânot workâ for the user in order to achieve what the customer aka council wants to achieve.
Then extrapolate that to AI. There will be no arguing with AI. And the people who feed in the initial bias will get their way at arms length.
Elon Musk has said that AI âwill drive us madâ. We should listen to the man. The automatic telephone systems nearly have me on the ceiling regularly.
I worked in IT since the early â70s. I am reverting to pen and paper for fear of those who control the computers.
April 8, 2023
The fundamental reason for the âanti road vehicle strategyâ and the âcouncils need to âchange their mentality on car parksâ is because some parts of the UK have become overcrowded as a result of rapid and massive legal and illegal immigration.
Our population is not the official 67 million claimed by official statistics but 80+ million when measured by metrics such as consumption and sewerage.
A rapid increase in unrecorded population means that sensible plans for our services and infrastructure are impossible and consequently they are all overloaded and failing.
April 8, 2023
Agree completely, but the government think filling in a Census form under threat is the answer.
That sort of crass thinking is why we are where we are.
April 8, 2023
The battle to preserve town centre shopping in many areas was lost a decade or more ago.
Our nearest large town is Bournemouth. It is blighted by the fact that the heart of the town is in a valley with two streets of shops on two sides which are on steep inclines. Hardly conducive to shopping on foot !
The car parks have been progressively built on and almost all street parking turned into disabled bays or are metered. As a result, an out of centre retail park was built, and although access is difficult and there are queues to get in and out, parking is free and the shops are all built around the car park so shopping is easy. Inevitably, the only remaining M&S store is there, and the three large department stores in the town centre have all closed.
We never go into the town centre, preferring to buy on line and where necessary, going to the retail park. When we did go to the town a few months ago, we were shocked at the number of boarded up shops. Bournemouth town centre is now no more than somewhere for younger people to go in the evening, eat out at the hundreds of food outlets or get drunk.
Look no further than the USA. The future of shopping is retail parks and online. Very few town centres other than attractive market towns with wide streets and free parking will survive.
April 8, 2023
Parties of the left? Letâs name them.
The Conservative Party
The Labour Party
The Liberal Democrats
The Green Party
There are many areas with a Tory MP and a Tory run council who are guilty as charged. In West Dorset we have a Tory MP and council. Local car parking charges in Bridport and surrounding areas have recently been doubled.
April 8, 2023
Where indeed, apart from our host, GBNews and the Reform Party are the counter voices, where are the MPs fighting against net-zero
April 8, 2023
I wonder if town centres might be more successful if the car parks were to be taken over by the local chambers of commerce who would have a better understanding of the relationship between trade and car parks.
April 8, 2023
National & local government used to purchase under the principals and policy of âbest valueâ (usually meaning the cheapest tender)âŠwith government conversion to purchasing EVs and heat-pumps, has the policy changed to âmost expensiveâ
April 8, 2023
I see our government has found something else to ban apart from cars on the high street
ââ The Government intends to ban commercial properties from being rented out unless they are assessed as having a minimum energy performance rating of C by 2027, and B three years later.ââ
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/buy-to-let/landlords-face-unlimited-fines-letting-gardens-go-seed-latest/
April 8, 2023
Just reading in the Telegraph that many older car parks will not be able to cope with the extra weight of EVs. So, don’t worry about paying to park. Just worry you’ll not come back to a crushed one.
April 8, 2023
With german and french tourists staying away this year as reported should make things easier
regarding congestion and wear and tear on our roads and other transport
April 9, 2023
There are already 18% more tourist bookings than in 2022, and the projected spend is 14% higher than last year.
There are no statistics that justify your notion that the French and Germans are outliers in this increase.
It is mainly countries that have recovered economically less quickly from lockdown (such as the Far East) that lag behind.
Any wear and tear on the roads is not caused by the French or the Germans, but by lazy councils neglecting to maintain them.
April 8, 2023
Xxxxx
It is not the politicians (and supposedly Conservative controlled Councils have been almost as guilty as supposedly Labour controlled Councils in imposing or increasing town centre parking charges) but the unelected Council Officers who are the main culprits in engineering high parking charges that harm or even destroy town centre businesses.
These officials see the size of the swollen Council ‘workforce’ and preserving their colleagues in often useless and generally inefficient jobs as their overriding priority and mostly couldn’t care less about the private sector dominated trading in their shopping centres. They evidently tell the top Councillors that enacting or increasing car parking charges is the alternative to what they present as unacceptable further cutbacks in ‘services’ (focusing on those that could impact most on the general public or ‘the most vulnerable’) to their public sector municipal empire. Then the politicians, Sunak-like, just cave in to their local ‘public servants’ supposedly ‘necessary measures’ even if (Sunak-like) they personally don’t ideologically like the measures. Just as very few Ministers are willing to stand up to their civil servants, very few Councillors in power are willing to stand up to their senior Council Officers. This certainly explains high and town centre damaging parking charges and in large measure explains the mess both Councils and government are in.
April 9, 2023
This government could tomorrow past a law that all public car parks free ….to help the consumer, the business owner and employment
April 8, 2023
Hear hear! Well written explanation of a very real problem, particularly for older drivers.
April 8, 2023
Iâm an older driver – well if 70 is older. I can manage the Just Park app. Itâs not rocket science.
April 9, 2023
Its not what clever people can do, our government should be catering for what the dumbest in society can do âŠthe lowest common denominator
April 10, 2023
Any article by John Redwood on the new imposed horrors of trying to drive in the UK – must convict the Tories themselves, and above all Grant Shapps – for introducing so many of the cycle lanes and infuriating ‘Covid’ road restrictions – and that Tory MP who introduced the Net Zero – and that Tory MP who introduced the daft 20mph limit. For once Redwood can’t blame Labour or the LibDems..
Reply In Wokingham the Lib Dems have closed roads, taken out lanes with obstacles to force you to drive on the wrong side of the road to get past them and announced plans for further impediments for drivers.