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Hackney Council complains frequently that drivers do not use the
Wilmer Place car park off Church Street. Perhaps it has something to do with the extreme
penalties that are levied on the more civic minded shoppers who take their advice and do
not leave their vehicles on the street.
Payment is made in advance at the 'pay and display' machine and is priced reasonably at
50p for the first hour. That is normally long enough do some shopping or visit a bank in
the area now officially designated 'Stoke Newington Town Centre.' However if the shopper
is delayed and returns late to the car perhaps only a few minutes over time they are
likely to find a parking ticket demanding £80 (£40 if paid within 14 days but with no
right of appeal).
This is the same level of fine levied for the far greater nuisance of on-street parking
infringements. The Wilmer Place car park is usually no more than half full and any vehicle
left longer than the owner intended creates no problem whatsoever. A large notice
proclaims that the Council is not responsible for the security of any vehicle.
The underpayment for an 'illegal' period of 10 minutes over time is 50p. A whacking great
fine many times that amount seems disproportionate to the mild offence committed. Surely
it would be better to introduce the 'pay as you leave' system that operates in most car
parks. This would mean that actual parking time is charged without the hassle of having to
estimate the length of stay or rushing back to beat the warden to your windscreen. Some
security checks would be welcome.
The present arrangement also means that motorists will continue to offer fellow parkers
paid-for tickets with unexpired time.
Rubbish
Ask anyone what they think about 'waste management' and their eyes
glaze over. Mention 'bin collection' and it will be difficult to stop them talking. In
Stoke Newington trash is topical.
 The level of discontent rose sharply when the waste collection teams went on
strike for one day. The knock-on effect was considerable and piles of rubbish were left
steaming in the heat for several days. Stoke Newington business people, particularly the
restaurant owners, phoned the Council demanding action. Zulfi Ali, Council manager for
refuse collection, condemned the 'unofficial and unlawful strike'.
How did the situation arise? As usual it was all about money or lack of it. The Borough
Treasurer had discovered a hole in Hackney's accounts to the tune of £4 million for the
past year and a projected overspend of £9 million for the current year (April 1999 -
March 2000). Of the latter amount, £5.2 million came from Borough Services, the
department that organises the bin collection.
The reason the situation had not been monitored and controlled earlier was that, under the
'Transforming Hackney' programme, responsibility for spending had been devolved to the
various departments.
The Council decided that budget control would be brought back to the central Financial
Services department and under severe pressure from the Borough Treasurer cuts of £13
million would have to be made. Around 130 jobs in Borough Services, including some in
refuse collection, would be axed. The employees, believing they were being made to suffer
for a problem not of their making, decided to take action.
The cuts have also led to the postponement of the introduction of wheelie bins. Originally
scheduled for September this year, they will be phased in across the whole borough over a
later period.
The Council runs a fleet of 43 waste collection vehicles but only about 27 are operational
at any given time. The rest are under repair. The fleet is only about two years old.
Environmentalists will be pleased to note that when the lorries are on the road they run
on 'green diesel' CRT fuel.
Key Council committees, including Borough Services, are chaired by rotation changing every
three months between Labour and Conservative. The Liberal Democrats have pulled out,
declaring themselves the official opposition. Is this the way to make effective decisions?
Councillors are the democratically elected and hard-working people who are ultimately
responsible for the activities of the Council, including its officers. Surely they don't
spend their time talking rubbish when they should be acting to get rid of it? Let us have
your views.
Diane Abbott
writes...
|
 Who would have thought that the
day would come when a fairly ordinary, family house in Stoke Newington would cost a
quarter of a million pounds?
But currently to buy a three or four bedroom property with a garden in the
leafier areas of N16 you must expect to part with at least £200,000. The property market
in Stoke Newington has spiralled in an extraordinary way. An example of this is the
Council's recent proposal to sell public toilets to property developers for so-called
'lifestyle' apartments. What kind of lifestyle people would have had on a site where
generations of Hackney men and women have 'spent a penny' I do not know.
The reasons for the rise in property prices locally are well known. People who used to
live in Chelsea now live in Islington. And families that ten years ago would have lived in
Islington are flowing into Stoke Newington. Furthermore, our proximity to the City has
made Stoke Newington a magnet for 'city' types with big city bonuses to burn. The
Victorian terraces of Islington and Stoke Newington were originally built as dormitory
suburbs for city clerks. They are returning to that again. But these are city types with a
disposable income that their forebears could never have dreamt of.
Stoke Newington's property boom has its upside. New people are bringing new life and
energy to the area. Shabby houses, factories and warehouses are being done up to look very
attractive. And for those lucky people who bought in the 1960s and 1970s, the house spiral
is like winning the lottery.
It would be a shame if only the very rich or the very poor could afford to live in Stoke
Newington. We need a balanced community. But let's not moan about the price spiral. If it
was not for football, the weather and property prices, what would people talk about?
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