Barnet CPZs: Council should not appeal

Barnet CPZ Action campaigner David Attfield won their recent case for Judicial Review at the High Court. We understand Barnet Council intend to appeal. See below Barnet CPZ Action's latest campaign news. Please sign the petition:

• You may be interested to hear that David will be on today's Jeremy Vine Radio Two Show at 1.30pm (Wednesday 31 July 2013) in case you are in a position to listen. 

• As you know,  Barnet may file an Appeal by the end of this week.  Let's show them that residents do not want their hard earned money wasted on this course of action, and they should accept the Judgment given on 22nd July by Mrs Justice Lang DBE.  If you have not yet signed the petition, you can do so here http://petitions.barnet.gov.uk/CPZAction/.  This is not limited to Barnet residents, so please ask all your friends, family, neighbours, colleagues to get on and sign.  This is people power in motion.  We need thousands of signatures.

• David appeared in the Daily Mail yesterday (rather embarrassingly, he says, called the "superhero of suburbia"!) so, for anyone that missed it, you can read it here  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2381593/Fed-soaring-residents-parking-charges-Read-mans-struck-blow-motorists-everywhere.html.  

On the broader issues raised by this case, it's my view (and not just mine) that the campaign against the exorbitant hikes in parking fees for residents living in Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs) is part of the campaign against central government cuts to local government finances.

CPZs are part of Barnet Council's planned Revenue Income Optimisation (RIO) which is what we all face in future whatever services we use: higher fees where the Council thinks they can levy them.

The cuts to local government funding are wrong and should be fought! No to RIO!

Finally, I too get to moan about the cost of parking in Barnet!

I don't drive, but my significant other does. This week we have a young visitor and we wanted to take her to rhyme time at the community centre in West Hendon.

Blogger Miss Fezance (oh, you didn't know about her?) has compiled a valuable chart comparing the prices for parking in various places in High Barnet. It would be great to have these for all parts of the borough (no, I'm not volunteering).

At West Hendon we parked in the council's Perryfield Way pay-and-display car park because we were worried about being late. £3 for 90 minutes, £4 for up to three hours! Anyway, we could have saved our money because there were loads of free parking spaces around the West Hendon estate, with restrictions between 10-11am only. (Is it a Controlled Parking Zone? I have looked on the Barnet council website but can't find a list.)

And, then, would you credit it, after we had raced to the community centre, we found it padlocked up. Some nice guys from Barnet Homes came over and told us that the woman who had been due to come and do the rhyme times (two sessions on Tuesday) had phoned up to say she wasn't doing it today, but tomorrow.

We drove (naturally) instead to Brent Cross shopping centre, parked for free... and forked out a small fortune to stumble about in one of the soft-play areas at Topsy Turvy World. I feel like a true Barnetonian now! And I have an inkling of what it would like to be blessed by parenthood.

Barnet CPZ Action quiz night, 12 November

The date is now confirmed for the fundraising quiz night of the Barnet CPZ Action campaign: Saturday 12 November. Details below. (For the prizes, I reckon they mean the Bald Faced Stag in East Finchley, not the Bald Faced Stag on Burnt Oak Broadway...)

Barnet CPZ Action Quiz Night and Promises Auction - Saturday, 12th November 2011

Where
East Finchley Constitutional Club, The Walks, (Off Oakridge Drive) London N2 8DF

When
8pm on Saturday 12th November (doors open 7.30pm)

Why
Test your knowledge against some of the best minds in Barnet and raise money for the legal campaign

Win
Bid for great prizes in our auction including a week in a Majorcan holiday cottage
Match tickets and a tour of Lords Cricket Ground
Portrait Photography for children
Healing/Hypnotherapy Sessions
Dinner for Two at Bald Faced Stag
and much more...

Pay bar and food from the Lazy Sally Cafe available

How much? Just £5 per person

Tickets can be bought directly in advance on a first come first served basis through our blogsite http://barnetcpz.blogspot.com/ using the Paypal function, but please remember to quote "Quiz" in your details.

Cheques can be sent to 88 Summerlee Avenue, East Finchley N2 9QH payable to Barnet CPZ Action. Please remember to leave your contact details and quote "Quiz".

Film quiz: but who's this?!

One point for the actor and one point for the film. (The likeness is uncanny, isn't it? So uncanny I think I might post some more pics some time.)

P.S. I'm in training for the Barnet CPZ Action quiz night. I trust there will be a film round!

Barnet CPZ in the news + fundraising quiz

Barnet CPZ Action, campaigning against Barnet council's exorbitant hike in parking fees for those living in a Controlled Parking Zone, features large in the Sunday Times today. Here's their blogpost refuting what Barnet council has said about CPZ charges in the article.

On the CPZ Action blog there is also an advert for a fundraising quiz night they are holding soon. (I had thought it was very soon, but it looks as though the date has been moved back.)

I hope to take part when the time does come. Perhaps the various groups of disgruntled Barnet residents could each field a team. In that case, they had better hire an aircraft hangar to hold it in.

Barnet CPZ: the council presses our money into the hands of lawyers

There is an update on the Barnet CPZ Action blog regarding their legal case against Barnet council, objecting to the exorbitant parking charge rises. It seems Barnet council are preparing to pay a top QC and hit the residents with the full legal costs if they lose. Goliath does like to throw his weight about! Oh, and hand our money over to lawyers.

Barnet CPZ Action are raising money for their legal case. Send a cheque made payable to "Barnet CPZ Action" to 88 Summerlee Avenue, East Finchley, London N2 9QH or donate via the PayPal link on the blog. Here are some extracts from their latest post:

1. [Barnet argues] The case only concerns "a limited number of residents of the Borough of Barnet" and, therefore, is not a case of broad importance. [We of course disagree. In any event, the case concerns everyone in Barnet: i.e it concerns the 90% of residents who are being subsidised and not just the 10% who are doing the subsidising]

2. David [Attfield, bringing the case] is simply opposed to the "extent of spending cuts in Barnet" and his claim is "purely political". His remedy should be the ballot box and not the court.

...4. Barnet Council have instructed one of the country's leading QCs, James Goudie, despite the fact that they know that David will largely be conducting the action himself.

If it's of any interest to anyone, as far as I know David Attfield has had no connection with any of the anti-cuts groups or activities in the borough, so that claim is completely spurious. I still support him though!