Labour’s John Biggs has paid tribute to Council staff who refurbished a Council car park earlier this year. It was announced at the start of the month that the car park, situated in Haverfield Road, beside Mile End Park, is the fourth in the borough to win an official Park Mark® Safer Parking Award. This is given to parking areas which have met the requirements of a risk assessment conducted by police and the British Parking Association.
The council had to resurface part of the car park and upgrade fencing, as well as introducing new disabled and parent parking bays. The aim was to increase use and to deter flytippers and drivers abandoning vehicles – both of which had been a problem in the past. Residents now have to pay for their parking using a credit or debit card or a mobile phone. It is thought that a cashless pay and display system like this reduces crime, as drivers no longer have to produce coins and no cash is kept in parking metres on site. No risk assessment appears to have been done on whether former coin thieves will upgrade their aspirations and begin to prey on the alternative credit and debit cards and phones which parking drivers will be putting on display.
All this has led John “two jobs” Biggs to recognise that the improvements result from the hard work of staff during Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s Administration. Avoiding any mention of the former mayor’s name, Biggs congratulated staff, saying, “This award has been given thanks to the hard work and endeavour of council officers. […] The predicted drop in crime and anti-social behaviour (ASB) is the least Mile End Park users deserve.”
Cllr Shiria Khatun, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Community Safety, also drew on the experiences of the former Administration, adding: “This car park used to be a hotspot for fly-tippers and those wishing to disturb residents using the park. It is great to see that we now have four car parks in the borough that have been granted the Safer Parking Award.” She similarly avoided any mention of the former Mayor, Lutfur Rahman’s, role in the improvement.
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