Caffe Nero
We have heard from the Secretary of State that the Caffe Nero has been given consent to continue trading in Sidcup High Street despite the fact that the Cafe Moca has recently had its appeal refused. We now have a state of affairs where the Council is obliged to take enforcement proceedings against the Cafe Moca (in April I think) unless it closes.
As both cafes did exactly the same, i.e. they opened without first obtaining planning consent and then appealed when the Council refused retrospective planning consent, it makes one wonder what the difference is between the two cafe applicants. Caffe Nero is of course a large business who, it transpires, regularly ignores planning and opens cafes without going through the planning process. Cafe Moca is a single small business operation without the same financial and legal clout.
I am afraid that the Council is not very good in appeals against companies who can afford high powered legal representation, i.e. the Incinerator and Superstores.
Jean Gee
Sidcup
Benefits Scrapped
The Mayor of London has recently claimed that London Councils is trying to change or scrap the benefits enjoyed by the capital’s older and disabled people through the Freedom Pass. We want to assure you that this is not the case.
London’s councils are fully committed to the Freedom Pass and have absolutely no intention of making any changes to it. The boroughs have been running and paying for the Freedom Pass for 23 years. It is the most comprehensive concessionary fares scheme in the country, a fact we are very proud of.
Over the years, the boroughs have shown their willingness to enhance the Freedom Pass by continually adding improvements to it. Since abolition of the Greater London Council we have extended the Freedom Pass to provide free off-peak and weekend travel on National Rail services in London as well as giving disabled Londoners free travel on buses, tubes, trams and the DLR at any time.
The Mayor has the power to dictate how much each council pays for the Freedom Pass. At present, the annual cost of providing the Pass is negotiated between London Councils, which represents all of the capital’s boroughs, and Transport for London (TfL) and National Rail. If no agreement is reached TfL currently has the power to dictate how much each council should pay to provide the Freedom Pass. This is known as the ‘reserve scheme’.
As a result the annual negotiations are continually threatened by TfL’s power to set any amount it wants. It is costing London’s boroughs £226.8 million to provide the Pass in the current financial year, compared to £150m in 2000-2001. This represents an increase of 52 per cent since the year that TfL was created – and ultimately these increased costs are borne by you, the council taxpayer.
Because of this London Councils is proposing a fairer method of negotiating the price of the Pass. Instead of TfL being able to dictate any costs they like through the reserve scheme, the current cost of the scheme would simply roll into the next year if no agreement was reached. This would protect the Freedom Pass while preventing additional pressures being put on London’s council tax payers.
We are sorry that the Mayor’s claims are causing needless concern and distress to those who rely on their Freedom Pass to move around our great city. But please be reassured that London’s boroughs have no desire or intention to reduce any of the elements of the Freedom Pass. Our desire is to maintain those benefits at a fair cost to the council tax payer.
Yours sincerely
Cllr Daniel Moylan
Chairman London Councils Transport and Enviroment Committee
Bollards!
The bollards at Sidcup Hill junction with Knoll Road are on the pavement to protect the GPO manhole covers on the pavement which were being broken on a regular basis by heavy goods vehicles coming out of Knoll Road and turning left into Sidcup Hill and mounting the pavement. Your comments against the proposals were possibly made by a car driver who does not live in the Sidcup Hill area.
Mr. A.Godfrey
Sidcup
• Perhaps the GPO could move their manhole to facilitate a better turning. Ed
Exaggerated Figures
It seems the Mayor needs to buy a new calculator. Claims that his free travel for under 18’s policy saves £350 per child are wildly exaggerated.
Taking the Mayor’s own figures of £55 million in lost revenue for the scheme divided by the number of eligible children, this amounts to only £143 saving per child. If his policy really did save every child £350, the true cost to Londoners would be £134 million every year.
If the Mayor’s policy is so wonderful, why does he have to resort to lies to defend it?
Bob Neill AM
London Assembly Member for Bexley
Higher parking charges
The news that the Council are increasing car parking charges across the borough has not been greeted with any enthusiasm by car owners and traders alike.
Sidcup trader Michael Lowe was incensed and wrote a letter to the Council’s transport guru Cllr. Craske pointing out the voting public complains that it is difficult to get into Sidcup for example due to the traffic restrictions caused i.e. by closed and gated roads, road humps and traffic signal timings, etc. Eventually, if people do get into the Town Centre the parking conditions are so confusing that they don’t know where to park. Then, if they so much as drop a small piece of litter, the Enviro Crime Officer might fine them £50.00 on the spot!
Like other small shopping parades throughout Bexley the Inland Revenue has seen how they are deteriorating and, as a consequence, has re-assessed business rates downwards! I would point out that my business is in one of the ‘top footfall’ areas of Sidcup High Street and we are in a downward spiral! The increases you are implementing will further add to our decline. Charges or levelling any more restrictions is not going to revitalise our High Street! Free us now! With vision, some local councils in England have trialled ‘free parking periods’ throughout the shopping day; because of the competition from the big shopping Malls, maybe you could respond similarly and request an officer look at the feasibility of free parking and how it could benefit our Town Centre? Surely, this would be more constructive?
Councillors and Officers still park free-of-charge in most of the town centres on council property; maybe this would be a source for extra revenue? Unlike the rest of us who have to pay - hospital visitors and staff, ratepayers, etc.Oh, sorry, I forgot supermarket lorries as they, too, park, illegally, without penalty. There seems to be double parking standards in Bexley.
I repeat, we need Bexley council’s help. If that costs money, so be it. We are paying with our businesses. Our rates end up in Bexley’s coffers just the same as household rates.
Mike Lowe,
Sidcup Barbers Shop,
Sidcup
• It would be interesting to know what it actually costs to maintain our car parks. The Independents standing in the local elections in Bexley would have been very sympathetic toward the independent traders and would have campaigned for many of the car parks around and near High Streets and shopping parades to be free of charge. Are the new charges simply a new stealth tax to help offset the lower increased rates! Ed