INDEPENDENT Councillor Ohid Ahmed launched a petition in response to John Biggs’s sham consultation on parking in Bow and Mile End – and within hours over 3,000 people had signed it.
The petition calls on Tower Hamlets Mayor to stop forging ahead with their decision to increase controlled hours in Parking Zones B1, B2 and B4 – and drop the “consultation” that gives residents the right to tinker with the number of extra controlled hours and thus allow the Council to claim that residents have been consulted on the actual proposal.
Cllr Ahmed is worried that extra controlled hours – going well into the evenings and over the weekend – will be expensive for residents. Whereas now residents can keep in touch with relatives and friends at the weekend, the Council wants to grab parking charges from these visitors – which may affect how often they can visit their families here.
There is a similar worry for businesses, especially small businesses which obviously don’t have their own car parks. Charges could deter visitors to the borough’s parks, for example – which would cut income for refreshment outlets in and around the parks.
Cllr Ahmed, “I hope the Mayor and his Labour Group formally reconsider their decision about the Council’s new parking restrictions proposal and consultation.” John Biggs has not yet indicated in public whether the new charges were agreed by John Biggs’s supporting Labour Group or by the Cabinet of Labour Councillor she appointed – or whether the Mayor has been freelancing with this new policy decision.
Cllr Ahmed called on John Biggs to do the following as a matter of urgency. 1. Issue a formal mayoral/official Council statement saying no new parking restrictions and potential new cost to residents will be introduced while he is the Mayor. 2. Confirm that he categorically opposes such a move by the Council and he withdraws the inconsiderate official document sent out by his Council during the school holidays. 3. Addresses the genuine issues and points raised in the petition.
Cllr Ahmed was not optimistic that it would be easy to get a straight answer out of John Biggs very quickly. “We’ll probably get his usual defence,” said Cllr Ahmed, “either that he didn’t know what was going on or that it was someone else’s fault.”
•To read or sign Cllr Ohid Ahmed’s petition, go to: Cllr Ohid Ahmed’s petition on parking
•Read more about it: Biggs sits out Labour support for International Youth Day Biggs takes wrong turn on parking says Cllr Rabina Khan
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