Parking matters

As portfolio holder for Regulatory services at Mendip, one of my more challenging responsibilities is to oversee the car parking regime across the district.

Car park charges are like any other taxes and things like the bubonic plague and botulism, in other words, not universally popular. However as a council we have a duty to provide sufficient and well managed car parks that are properly maintained and controlled to ensure that the most valuable shopper’s and visitors spaces see a good turnover of clients, and that the long term parking for residents and workers are available and affordable.

Car park charges across Mendip with the exception of Clarks village in Street, have not been increased generally for the last 3 and a half years, the Clarks village car parks were reviewed earlier this year, we have a contractual obligation to review charges when requested by our partners, these new changes do not impact on those changes that have already been introduced. 

The RPI Index for inflation since the last across the board price increase in July 2008 was minus1.4% in 2009, 4.6% in 2010 and 5.6% in 2011, If we were to have increased parking charges in line with inflation since the last review, we would be looking at an increase of 8.8% now, instead of the 7.5% agreed last night, far from being an inflation busting increase as screamed by the headlines in the Journal last week, still why let the facts get in the way of a good headline eh! In fact why don’t we compare our car park charges with the Journal’s price rises? The journal has been increased in price three times in recent years by 5p every time, giving them an average increase of 9.5% each time, and they have the cheek to call us inflation busters!

The 7.5% is NOT rounded up to the nearest 10p, again as quoted in the press, it is rounded to the nearest 10p which means in effect that many of our cheaper short term stop and shop charges will not alter at all, all of our 50p and 60p rates remain unchanged, I hope the press will find some space to rectify their errors under a nice big headline in this week’s edition.  

In addition to inflation, we have seen a 2.5% increase in the VAT rate introduced on January 1^st, that we as a council have to pay on all our car park charges. This will cost the council £50k in the next financial year. We have also seen this year a hike in the Non Domestic Rates that are levied on our car parks. All businesses have seen similar increases, this is not something that we as a District Council have any control over and have to pay them exactly the same as everyone else. This increase in NDR will cost the council £67k in the next financial year. If we do not increase charges to meet these increases, we will have to cut spending elsewhere to balance the books. I know balancing the books is a concept that is pretty alien to the Liberal Democrats, but we as a Conservative group always start with that as a pre-requisite.

There is no point in denying that car parking revenue is a significant portion of the councils overall funding, currently car parks contribute some £2.48 million to the overall budget, which equates to around £1.3 Million nett of VAT when the costs have been taken out. These revised charges will increase the overall revenue by around £100k gross, however when you take the increase in VAT and NDR into consideration you will see that this increase does not even cover those items, leave alone the inflationary pressure. This also has to be considered against a backdrop of a 28% cut in government grant over 4 years, a 11% cut in the next financial year and a freeze in the council tax, there are very few areas where we will see any increase in revenue at all, and ever increasing calls on our budget.

I fully understand that there will be many who will have issues with the changes that we have made, however these proposals were agreed by a cross party working group of councillors. After the elections in May, we contacted the leader of the opposition to ask for nominees to the Car Park Working Party, for weeks we had no reply whatsoever, when they did respond the nominated people then cried off for various reasons causing meetings to be postponed, and when finally the group did meet, Councillor Cottle (Lib Dem) sent apologies and arranged for Councillor Brunsdon to attend as a substitute, but we heard nothing and no substitute from either Councillor Unwin (Lib Dem) representing Wells or Councillor Hooton (Lib Dem) from Frome, all of the Conservative nominees attended.

I received numerous communications from Frome complaining that their interests were not represented on the working group, I have told them who that person should have been, and to contact him directly with any complaints that they may have.

We received representations from Frome Chamber of Commerce, Vision for Frome and Councillor Godman also from Frome requesting among other things that the implementation date of the increase to be postponed until after Christmas. We listened to those proposals and as a result we decided to delay the implementation of the changes until February 1^st  2012, after the New Year sales period has ended.

The free Christmas parking that we have given in other years is extended to 2pm every day for the two weeks up until the festive season, and we have extended the free parking for the whole of New Years day so that no-one will have to worry about driving with even the possibility of having excess alcohol still in their system if they leave their car in the town centre overnight.

On other matters, the group decided that our permit prices would rise at the same rate as the other charges, rounded to the nearest pound, but our very generous discount scheme that is heavily subsidised by the council would remain in place, meaning that our most regular users would still be able to park at very preferential rates.

We discussed whether or not to introduce charges for disabled parking. Most of our local districts do charge for disabled parking, and the group felt that we should carry out consultations as to whether we should follow suit. We will consult widely with disabled groups and carry out an impact assessment before any changes are finalised. In any event our ticket machines are not suitable to be used by disabled users in their current state, and the areas around the ticket machines will also require adaption. We will have to assess the cost of carrying out these changes alongside the consultation and impact assessment.

It has been acknowledged that many of our regular users, especially many town centre workers, use car parks as a matter of habit, rather than seeking to find the best available rates, as a result, we will be introducing signage in some of our short stay car parks, that are primarily designed for use by shoppers and visitors, that there is long stay parking available elsewhere in the town at a vastly reduced price. This we hope will have the impact of saving our town centre workers money, whilst at the same time making more valuable stop and shop spaces available.

There will be a minor change to the parking regime in Shepton Mallet’s Great Ostry car park. As a result of representations that we received from local traders and the comprehensive Urban Design study carried out by the Townscape Heritage Initiative, it has been decided to amend the existing small “free parking“ area where currently shoppers can get free parking for an hour, but can then buy a ticket to extend the stay beyond that period, to a regime where it will be free for one hour, but with a maximum one hour stay. This will have the effect of providing a greater turnover of spaces for the most valuable stop and shop users, without these spaces being blocked up by paying clients over an extended period.

Vision for Frome have asked us to take a “leap of faith” and are saying that if we reduce parking charges we will encourage more visitors and therefore increase income overall. It is an interesting concept, but I am not a man of faith and take decisions on logic, however, if Vision for Frome with the Chamber of Commerce and perhaps the Town Council want to produce a plan that underwrites any losses we suffer, then I'm sure we will give it careful consideration.

In addition to the changes in the car park regime, the cabinet also voted to join the county wide Civil Parking Enforcement scheme last night. This means that as from the middle of next year, civil traffic wardens will be empowered to enforce on-street as well as off street parking. The police have told us that they will be withdrawing from on-street parking enforcement, they have other priorities, it will be for the county scheme to take over this task.

The actual on-street free parking areas will remain as before, however they will be routinely patrolled to ensure that they are not abused by long term parking blocking up valuable stop and shop spaces.

Perhaps the most interesting point of all occurred on BBC Radio Somerset this morning. I was interviewed at about 7:45am regarding the charges, the facts are as I've recounted them here, either car park charges go up, or cuts will have to be made elsewhere to cover the £117k increase in tax we have to pay. We have a stark choice, either the users of car parks pay, or we all pay through higher taxes or poorer services.

Now the Lib Dems are not well known for sound financial management, so when the afore mentioned Danny Unwin from Wells, who failed to attend the working party remember, was interviewed later on, he was speaking on "behalf of Mendip Liberal Democrats". When asked how he would cover the £117k increase in tax, he stumbled, blustered and didn't answer the question, when finally pushed for an answer he said that we should introduce charges for on-street parking to cover the shortfall!!

If charging for on-street parking that is currently free is not an increase in parking charges I'll eat my hat!!!

The Nuclear Option

Today (Monday) should see the application for a new Nuclear Power station at Hinkley point submitted. If approved, Hinkley C will be built on the site where the old Hinkley A Magnox reactor and Hinkley B the Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor, are currently located.

As part of my new "Community Safety" brief at Mendip, I was invited to attend one of the regular Hinkley Site Stakeholder meetings in Bridgwater last week. Although this is the first one that I have attended, they have been held regularly for many years, with representatives from all of the local councils, District Councils and County County present, along with activists from the various "anti-nuclear" groups such as Greenpeace and Stop Hinkley.

The meeting was very informative with much discussion about the excellent safety record of the plant, and what to expect over the coming weeks and months. Perhaps the most interesting contribution related to a review of site safety in the light of the Japanese earthquake and Tsunami that devastated large areas of North Eastern Japan including the Fukishima Nuclear power plant.

Although there are similarities between Fukishima and Hinkley, I think the differences are perhaps the most important subject. Firstly Fukishima is a Pressurised Water Reactor, relying on water to cool the reactor core, Hinkley as a Gas cooled reactor uses Nitrogen to cool the reactor. The main cause of the problems in Japan were directly related to the fact that the site was swamped by the Tsunami, coming over a 7 metre high sea wall, killing the pumps that circulated the water by severing the connection with the grid.

Hinkley has 12 metre high sea defences, more than enough for even the most severe Tsunami that could reasonably be expected, it also has its own power station that can run its back up systems if the grid fails, and can produce its own Nitrogen to cool the reactors. EDF are also installing massive gas tanks that can flood the containment building with Nitrogen if all else fails, in other words, they are protected against pretty much any eventuality.

What is also interesting when you look back at the hype surrounding the "disaster" at Fukishima, is that the latest published figures show that there were only 2 fatalities at the power plant, one killed by a falling crane during the earthquake, and one worker who died of a heart attack, 2 other workers are still missing, presumably swept away by the Tsunami. There have been around 30 other minor injuries and exposures to radiation that have required hospital treatment, although none required lengthy stays. Although each death is a tragedy for the family concerned, you would have thought by the media coverage that thousands had been killed by the "meltdown", when in comparison tens of thousands were killed by the Tsunami that got significantly less coverage.

The anti-nuclear brigade often quote the thousands or millions that die every year as a result of radiation exposure, however the latest figures from the United Nations Scientific Committee of the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) show that the Chernobyl disaster actually killed 57 people as a direct result of the explosion and fire, and in the 30+ years since, there has been an increase of just about 6000 in extra cases of thyroid cancer in the 5 million people living in the contaminated area around the plant, all other cancer rates are broadly similar to unaffected areas. Thyroid cancer is eminently treatable with a 90+% success rate, meaning that so far there have only been 15 deaths directly attributable to radiation exposure. That gives us a total of 72 deaths in 30 years as a result of the accident, again a tragedy for the relatives of each victim, but compare that if you will with the thousands that die every year in coal mines, or working on gas and oil rigs to provide the alternative sources of energy.

More people are killed in this country every year falling by off a ladder doing DIY, sometimes we need to get a sense of proportion.

Opportunity Missed

After the May elections this year, and the dust settled allowing the new batch of councillors to settle in to their new roles, Stuart Brown, CEO of Mendip District Council offered each and every member the opportunity of a "walk about" around the ward, to look at issues first hand and to discuss with the newly elected councillors their vision for the future.

During my walkabout with Mr Brown, I took him around our town centre and highlighted some of the problems we face, and discussed a number of potential ways that we could look at to move the town forward, these we are still working on, however at the same time I spoke at length about the poor relationship between Shepton Mallet Town Council and Mendip District Council and discussed some methods that could be employed to improve matters. Mr Brown agreed during those discussions to attend a Town Council meeting at the earliest opportunity, which after finding a suitable date occurred this week on Tuesday evening. In addition to Stuart Brown, Harvey Siggs, leader of Mendip Council and Cabinet member at County, three elected District Councillors, plus myself as District and County Councillor for the town, the Town Council had direct access to the most important decision makers in the District.

So did the council make the best use of this huge opportunity? In my view absolutely not. Yes there were a few discussions about joint working on various projects and discussions on how the District Council can help to make some of the Town Council's aspirations a reality, but the huge disappointment was there was absolutely no discussion about the future of the town, the Local Development framework and the Local Plan, the most important subjects for the future of the town were barely mentioned. Several members were merely interested in trying to score points on pretty trivial matters, that could be dealt with by officers at a much lower level, but there was very little that warranted the intervention or the influence of the Chief Executive or the Leader or the Council.

I can but hope that this is the start of improved relations between the two local authorities, I know that Mendip wishes a more harmonious existence, there are a great many challenges ahead, the the development of our town foremost among those challenges, I just hope that some of the members of the Town Council grow up, start acting like adults, and put in the work that is required to make Shepton's future secure. I have to say I didn't see much evidence of that on Tuesday evening.

Break out the thermals, Ice Age on the way!

The party conference season has come and gone, the normal stage managed theatricals dispensed with for another year, and what did we learn?

Well "cat gate" highlighted the lunacy of the Human Rights Act for all to see, Ken Clarke highlighted his liberal credentials, (nothing new there), Ed Balls proved that he should not be allowed within a light year of the economy ever again, and Ed Milliband demonstrated what a completely useless leader he actually is. Apart from that it was all too predictable and pretty dull if I'm honest.

Perhaps the most interesting speech of the month was made by George Osborne, or as I call him my mate George. He made what I thought was a very measured speech about the state of the World, and especially Europe's economy, there is no doubt we are living through a potential catastrophe, I just hope our leaders understand the problems and can take the measures to guide us all through.

In his speech, he made what was perhaps a most fundamental point, which has gone largely un-reported in the press so far. He said that from now on the UK would row back on the commitment to cut CO2 emissions by 80% of 1990 levels by 2050, and by 20% by 2020 and would from now on only reduce emissions in line with the European average.

Since the Kyoto protocol and the subsequent Climate Change Act was passed by parliament in 2008, the climate change zealots have driven the agenda and forced the government to introduce measures such as charging companies for every tonne of carbon they produce. This carbon floor scheme added to other measures, has the effect of putting £404 billion on the cost of producing power, which is over £750 on the annual energy bill of every household in the country for the next 40 years.

It has led to the proliferation of wind turbines that blight our landscape and achieve nothing in the reduction of CO2. It takes over 20 years of operation at 25% efficiency to pay back the CO2 generated in the manufacture and servicing of these monsters, and though we are told the lifespan will be 25 years, I am hearing that most will be worn out long before then, and all that to produce power at three times the cost of a conventional power station. Guess who pays the bill for these acts of folly, WE ALL DO!

We are told that all new coal and gas power stations must be fitted with carbon capture technology so that the nasty CO2 can be trapped and then buried in the ground for thousands of years, the only problem is that carbon capture hasn't been proven yet, and it's predicted that it will never achieve the targets set for it!

As is usually the case, when new rules are made, this country jumps through hoops to make sure they are obeyed, no matter the consequences, while all the huge polluters of the world have done nothing. The USA, China, India etc haven't even signed up to the protocol, leave alone done anything to reduce emissions, and why, because they know it is economic suicide to do so.

In Europe they are still discussing the way forward towards a 2050 target, again no agreement so far, very little implementation of penalties for carbon producers, so all we have achieved so far is to put all of our major industries, such as pharmaceuticals and chemicals at a huge disadvantage with the rest of the world, no wonder so many are looking at re-locating in a more business friendly environment.

Then today, I read in the Sunday Times, that the Met office is now predicting that far from us all frying under increasingly hot conditions as global warming takes us on the road to Armageddon, we are in fact heading towards a mini ice age!

No doubt the climate change zealots will say that the ice age will be all our fault too, but as we have had many mini and maxi ice ages during the earth's history, and will no doubt have many more in the future, I think finally we may be finally moving into a world where we will not be dominated by the doom and gloom merchants.

This planet will eventually run out of oil and gas, so it makes sense to make the very best use of what we have, I'm also sure that technology will come up with novel solutions to the power supply issues as we go forward. Whether it is Hydrogen powered cars, or Cold Fusion power stations, science and technology will find the solution.

A geologist from Shell told me about 6 years ago that if you add up all the oil that we have used from the beginning of the industrial revolution to the present time, it will make up less than 10% of the total oil that is left in the ground, so far we have only extracted the easy stuff, from now on it will get harder and more expensive, and at 30 dollars a barrel it would never happen, however at 100 dollars plus per barrel it certainly will.

In the meantime perhaps we can stop driving up energy bills un-necessarily and perhaps we can stop driving high energy consuming companies such as the North Wales aluminium smelter that has just re-located to South Africa taking hundreds of jobs with them, because of the cost of the carbon floor scheme

You never know, producing a bit more CO2 might even stave off the worst effects of the ice age that is coming?

Greek Lunacy

It appears the Greeks have been taking economic lessons from Ed Balls, he of "the only way to cut the deficit is to borrow more" school of economics.

I read today that the Greek government, in debt up to their eyebrows and beyond, with a supposed austerity drive being fought at every step by the disgruntled public, have ordered no less than 400 battle tanks from the USA to supplement their armed forces!

Now these tanks aren't any old cheap rubbish, they are M1 Abrams , top of the range jobs at a cool £1.3 billion for the job lot. In addition they have also ordered various armoured personnel carriers and artillery pieces taking the total to just over £2 billion.

In times of plenty it is wise for government's to update and expand their defence capability, however when you are likely to default on your debts to the tune of £2.4 billion, why on earth would you be spending another £2 billion on arms when there is not a war on?

Perhaps they intend manning the barricades when the worlds banks come knocking on the door for the money that they owe!!

I think this one has to go in the "you couldn't make it up pile".