Liberal Democrat Councillors have “called in” a Labour Administration decision to demand a top level meeting to discuss proposals for camera enforcement of parking. The decision was agreed by Labour in a report entitled ‘Enforcement of Moving Traffic and Parking Contraventions by means of CCTV cameras’ that presented to Labour’s first Executive Committee meeting on 23rd June 2010.
Brent’s new Labour Council are proposing installing CCTV cameras by January 2011 at a cost of £1,104,000 so that they can begin to issue more fines to motorists, reaping about half a million pounds per year.
During the elections Labour claimed that Brent Council was raising too much from motorists, however at their first Executive meeting they have agreed to a spending spree of over a million pounds to catch out unsuspecting motorists and fine them for what the Metropolitan Police call ‘minor errors of judgment’ (Executive report section 3.2).
Even leading Labour Councillor Mohammed Butt admitted everyone “says this is going to be a money making scheme”, claiming that this big brother style enforcement was needed to keep people safe.
According to the Liberal Democrat Transportation spokesperson Daniel Brown this shows Labours hypocrisy on parking and that having Labour run Brent Council will cost local residents dear.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Daniel Brown said,
“You don’t make people safer by camera enforcement of parking offences and the fact that the Labour lead member for Finance is trying to defend the policy tells me that this is all about making money from unsuspecting motorists. People who live and work in Brent are only left to wonder what Labour will do next.
When the Liberal Democrats ran Brent Council we made the first permit free for smaller cars and froze charges for all other cars – Labour must now promise that they are not going to increase charges for residents who live in Controlled Parking Zones to rake in yet more cash.”
The Executive report is here – Item 9: http://tinyurl.com/3ymyzcr
