Victory for campaign against parking charges!

The council has done a U-turn and decided to drop the porposals – now the next fight is against the blackmail-congestion charge. If there’s not genuine congestion then people will see it for what it is – simply a revenue raising tax that is needed because of the Labour government’s failure to fund public transport, particularly outside London!

Neil Swannick refuses to answer questions about parking

On friday evening I went to a meeting at the town hall attended by Neil Swannick for him to receive petitions, and hear questions from business leaders and campaigners against his parking proposals.

When I say HEAR questions, thats literally all he did, refusing to answer any, smiling his way through the meeting in a way which would have made Peter Mandelsohn proud. Allegedly answering questions would have been a conflict, as he’s the person responsible for assessing whether the proposals should go ahead as teh executive member whose department is responsible for parking.

Good points were made, I was glad to hear the Lib Dems voice a few of my points. The Chinese community in Manchester is just amazing, they were very well represented, very ofrganised and passionate about this issue. They had representatives from housing associations, business networks and restaurants. They have the coordination in their community that the city centre community at large lacks, I hope thats something that I can begin to change – the first job is to get rid of the Lib Dems and other councillors who don’t care about our residential city

Does Neil Swannick have shares in Whizzgo?

Just a question – Whizzgo is a company which is launching a service that allows people to rent a car (by the hour I believe) in Manchester’s city centre. That would be SO handy if the council’s policies were to make owning a car a virtual impossibility…..

Respect for our residential city…

Walking home again this evening and stepping over pool after pool of urine on our streets makes me really want to do something about this, its just crazy. As I walked past the public urinals in Piccadilly Gardens they were desterted.

 Please join with me in condeming public urination and help my campaign against this. I’m trying to get the MEN to take this up as an issue – its already illegal, I believe we can only change the situation if we change the culture of it and make it socially unacceptable – so please email the MEN at newsdesk@men-news.co.ukand tell them that you support Rob Adlard’s campaign against it.

Free parking for councillors, end of free parking for city residents….

Does anyone know for sure what is the situation with Lloyd St next to the town hall. This has been closed to traffic for some time and appears to be free parking for councillors, at a time when they’re trying to make residents pay a stealth congestion charge by ending free parking in the city (apart from midnight to 8am – thanks for that)

Attempts to get clarification from Sir Richard Lease, the leader of the Labour led City Council have so far proved unsuccesssful….

Trafford Centre booming – city centre struggles….is parking the answer?

The Trafford Centre, , is going from strength to strength despite a predicted slump in consumer spending this year. Its worrying that The Trafford Centre even has a branch of Selfridges to offer, and saw a rise in shopper numbers to a record 4m in December 2006 while businesses in the city struggle. The Trafford Centre is doing so well that its planning a £70 million extension for next year, and a £26 million upmarket food hall for 2007, housing seven new eateries. Director of operations Gordon McKinnon believes that the Trafford Centre’s free parking will protect it against the effects of any slumps in the economy. “When money is tighter, people are not going to want to spend £10 a day parking in a city centre”, he says. When will the city council realise that Manhcester’s city centre has no pre-determined right to have a vibrant retail core, the conditions have to be right and its hard work for the businesses involved. Coupled with this, the superiority in this area attracts people to live in the city centre, something that could easily be removed as a positive reason if the retail core declines with the introduction of congestion charges, whether its in the form of parking charges or an actual congestion charge.

Machester City Council tries to suppress parking protest!

Today was a dark day for democracy and free speech in Manchester as the City Council tried to suppress a ligitimate protest from city residents. 

The Manchester media business and online magazine Manchester Confidential has been joining the chorus of voices against the new parking proposals. Inviting its readers to comment the response was overwhelming.

In order to pursue this issue the website set up a protest where readers could fill in a form with details and questions to submit to the councillors who proposed the new parking rules.

 The Council Today tried to prevent Manchester Confidential from being able to operate online, contacting their service providers and trying to have them taken off line. This is a disgusting, blatant and petulant attempt to suppress the voices of city residents trying to oppose the parking plans. What utter arrogance, and worryingly what sense of being detached and above the rules. Not only does the Council think its able to break planning rules, but also suppress freedom of speech. Manchester, its time for a change……

Manchester City Council Breaks Planning Rules

The City Council will break the planning rules on transport in 2001, which councils are forced to follow.  While John Prescott put pressure on councils to provide fewer car parking spaces, increase parking charges and turn up the heat on parking enforcement, the regulations also state: ‘Local authorities should set out appropriate levels and charges for parking which do not undermine the vitality of other town centres.’

 

The Council has blundered big style on this,  while the Government wants councils to extend car parking, even they recognise that it mustn’t be done in such a way that makes our cities worse off.

A community united….

Its great to see how this issue of the parking has united everyone accross the city. I was in Chinatown today meeting the coordinators of their protests about the proposals. They were fantastic, having a large banner accross the pagoda in the square, tables with petitions and encouragement being given with the use of a megaphone – really great to see people in Manchester protesting about something they feel affects them, and realising we’re all in the same boat over this one. Business groups in Chinatown, The Village business group, the Clubs and Bars and my residents petition will be combined to present a untied front to the council that we will not accept these proposals – I hope this is the start of a revolution of sorts, with the community within the city setting the agenda rather than it being dictated by those who are external to and apparently ignorant of our world here.

Who has a say….and why!

Okay, at first I thought it was wrong, and then it annoyed me but now I’m actually quite angry regarding the parking issue.

WHY OH WHY do people who don’t live or work in the city think that its okay to tell us how to live!! The only people posting their support for the new parking proposals are these people. We live in the city, pay lots of council tax here, and we have to be told what to do by people without Manchester’s best interests at heart!? This is crazy…..

Lets be clear about something else – THIS IS NOT A GREEN ISSUE OR A GREEN TAX its just nonesense. Lets have better public transport, better bus services, less bus congestion, fulfil the Conservatives vision (that was years and years ahead of its time, so much so that New Labour are only just beginning to reccognise it) of trams in Manchester, have bike lanes, and THEN we can talk about getting people out of their cars.