Westminster Council has written to Communities Secretary Eric Pickles to register its opposition to the proposal to relax parking restrictions on double yellow lines which, it says, would lead to gridlock in the West End.
The government proposal is intended to help high street traders by allowing motorists a 15 minute grace period to pop into a local shop. It is also a response to the growing perception that local authorities treat parking enforcement as a revenue raising scheme.
Westminster is the country’s largest parking authority with 600,000 vehicles a day using its roads. Consequently the council raises more than any other any other authority from parking. Last year this was believed to be in the region of £37 million.
Cabinet member for business, Daniel Astaire, believes the government has failed to understand the issue and that relaxing the rules could damage businesses rather than help them.
“If a concession was granted to all drivers on all roads with double yellow lines at all times there is a real prospect that the highway capacity would be halved on some of our busiest, yet narrow roads, including much of the historic areas of the West End, where gridlock would ensue.
“This would therefore be detrimental to businesses who have told us that congestion is the biggest threat to the local economy, and they would undoubtedly face delays in receiving deliveries,” he told the Evening Standard.
He continued to claim that “no two roads are the same” and that the pressures faced by Westminster are very different to those faced by other authorities.
Local Government Minister Brandon Lewis dismisses Westminster’s objections, claiming that it’s time to curb “unfair town hall parking rules.”
“Westminster City Council would be wise to note the public backlash at their attempt last year to hike parking charges,” he said.
The government forecasts that local authorities will raise £635 million from parking charges and fines between 2013 and 2014.
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