I understand that Kingston Council are to increase the charges for residents and business permits.
Residents from £60 per year to £90
Business from £90 per year to £300
What are your thoughts on this?
Residents and Business Parking Permits set to rise... dramatically!
surbifan
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Comments
Hello people. I'm Kenan but you can call me Ken i decided to be here because i have tried many websites to get a real friends and this forum looks like for me. :)
I do put my hand in my pocket I'll have you know!
I'm also under no false illusions that ticking a box will solve everything and that there's no perfect political party, but that shouldn't prevent one from trying, nor having an opinion on individual issues.
Re: the last post, but one, by 'anonymous'
I do not mind having to pay my way, I appreciate that Kingston is a nice place, though do not feel that those facts give ANY council carte-blanche to charge what they like, as & when they like without having to justify it. Though my advice to folk that can't pay/won't pay wouldn't be to move elsewhere, but to perhaps tick another box in the forthcoming council elections in May....... But that is not the issue at all here!
The point is that given the cuts to council funding is it right for a council, ANY council, to specifically target motorists as a revenue source? Should the burden not be shared amongst all council tax payers in an even manner? Or better still, actually make the efficiency savings that the cuts are designed to instigate!
We are told by the Con-Lib coalition that small business is going to be the saviour of the economy, the way out of the recession. So why is a council that is controlled by one of the coalition parties seeming to contradict this mantra by hammering small businesses with a more than three-fold rise in one of their annual outgoings?
I'd love to say I agree and with you and at the same time find a cure for cancer and abolish poverty.
If you think putting a tick in the box is the answer to your prayers then you are sadly mistaken, there will always be something else to shout about if it's not your toes they are treading on.
It's the way the cookie crumbles and political intervention has nothing to do with it.
You wanted the 'Good Life'? Put your hand in your pocket and pay for it.
LOL @ Hotspanners...... Well done! LOL!
More U-turns (even if they are tongue in cheek) than a coalition government!
Seriously though, IF the Rose is THAT good for the local economy, which suggests it is very popular, then it should surely be able to pay it's own way. I've never been, but I'm happy to pay for a full price ticket to watch something, just like I do when (on the rare occasion) my missus drags me up to the West End for a show.
The Rose is great, but it is a massive theatre that is tough to fill at the prices it charges now, let alone if it were to put them up further.
They have had some quality productions there, but it is just too close to the west end to charge too much for a ticket. I think it will be subsidised for years to come.
It is good for the Kingston economy, but not for the council tax payers.
Well, the money has to come from somewhere!
If Hotspanners IS right, then funding to The Rose could be cut and try to make it more self financing (they could put their ticket prices up) but dunno what could be done by Kingston Council about the other points he/she made.
@ Hotspanners, I don't actually buy the Daily Mail, I have a look at it online, along with other papers from right across the spectrum; including The Grauniad (as it is affectionately known by Private Eye!)
I did suggest in my initial post that Richard Littlejohn can often be questionable, but despite that a fair point is a fair point. I find it hard to disagree with what he says about some council's spending & cuts, but then again I do try to be tolerant of others.
I'd be quite interested to hear what your actual views are on the issue of the council hiking their charges for parking, are they justified or unfair in your opinion.
I blame the Rose Theatre, illegal immigrants and the 24 hour McDonalds for these price hikes.
The strange thing is that you are probably right with the first two!
Absolutely not. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Now I am not sure whether you are still being tongue in cheek or not!
Are you seriously saying that the subsidies paid to the Rose Theatre could not be affecting the amount of council tax and other charges levied by the council on residents and businesses??
I mean you should be ashamed of yourself for hinting that illegal immigrants have anything to do with this at all. The issue of the Rose is blown out of all proportion as usual. The funding it received is a drop in the ocean. It's good for Kingston's economy IMO.
But why? Are there no immigrants (legal or illegal) housed in Kingston? Where do you suppose the money comes from for that? That's right, Kingston Council who then have to raise council tax and other charges to pay for it.
I know that is is easy to criticise this as a 'Daily Mail' view, but it is actually true in some cases! No one here is complaining about them being housed in £3m houses on Coombe Hill, and in fact I guess most of them are housed in horrible accomodation, but it stil costs money.
Moan, moan, moan! Iv'e lived in this borough for over 10 years now and not once have i complained about the rises.
Kingston Upon Thames is an extremely nice borough and id imagine costs a lot of money to keep it that way.
If you're struggling to keep up then i suggest you go live else where but i assure you that you wont find anywhere as clean, safe and nice as Kingston for the same price!
You people just want to much for nothing, its not gonna happen so do one. :)
All true, and I never take the area for granted. If you go anywhere else in outer London (with the exception of Richmond), you notice a decline in standards straight away.
I do think that Kingston council take liberties with things like this, though. £90 is a lot of money to pay for a scheme which should really be self-financing if run properly.
It is the same with council tax. Kingston is the smallest london borough apart from the City of London, and has a very high density of council tax payers for a suburban area. The borough is blessed to be surrounded with a lot of open green space, but virtually all of it is in neighbouring boroughs meaning our council don't have to pay for the maintenance of any of it. I am not sure how this equates to the highest level of council tax in London.
I love Kingston/Surbiton and will always be prepared to pay a premium to live here, but the council needs to by run more efficiently.
Well from what I see Kingston council just love wasting my money! My parking permit form used to be printed in about seventy different languages. They also spent about five months in renovating the large area behind the Ram pub, and all we are left with is a hideous and very lump of tar and railway sleepers! Some contractor must have a huge wedge of our cash in his filthy pockets and a very big grin on his face.
I'm sure there are many many more instances where our cash is just thrown around which result in rises elsewhere.
Got nothing against the Rose, in a matter of fact it's a good investment, it brings in crowds and in turn that pumps money into the local economy so why moan.
Just delisting the above link, it may be incorrect.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1357039/Tory-cuts-Women-childr...
He might not be everyone's cup of tea and I don't always agree with his views on certain issues, but the first part of his piece in the Mail last week re: council cuts is an eye-opener and makes sense.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1357039/Tory-cuts-Women-childr...
Some council bosses are on salaries bigger than the PM because they have large budgets to oversee, the PM has got the rather more demanding job of running the country!
I thought the cuts were to result in authorities making efficiency savings and cutting waste, not as an excuse to fleece us all even more!!!!
Cut the salaries of the top council bosses in line with MPs (ie 5% pay cut and then a five year pay freeze) and then get rid of silly & unnecessary posts such as 'Diversity Coordinators' and keep the front line staff.... but as Littlejohn states that doing won't make the cuts look as bad as cutting back on front line personnel. Labour controlled councils (& perhaps some coalition sceptic Lib-Dem ones) will want the cuts to appear as scything & evil as possible, purely for political gain.
Quoting a Richard Littlejohn article? In an attempt to make a serious point? Really?
HA HA HA HA HA!!!
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!
HAAA HAAA HAAAA!
I've been saying for years this site is populated by Daily Mail readers. Thanks for proving me right.
Totally unwarranted - if residents' permits are to be increased by 50%, why do they think businesses can afford over 200%? These Councillors don't live in the real world.
Outrageous,cut the Rose subsidy and remove the extra 417 staff employed since the L/Dem council was elected,merge with Richmond and or Sutton/Merton.
Do not moan about out of town shopping mall etc if the council kills the high streets with ludicrous parking charges,even stretching into sat/sun evenings they will lose all the revenue from the shops and small businesses.
The other issue is the pay & display costs, which have just gone up 50% in Surbiton. It is very nice of the council to provide a CPZ to allow residents to park on their own streets, charge them £90 for the privilege, and then let anyone else park there if they are prepared to pay even more money!
It is disgraceful. I am sure the residents of the roada that have been made CPZs would not have been so keen if they had known how much the charges would be put up. It should be a £20 admin-type fee at a maximum, not another massive revenue stream.
The council are really creaming it off of both ends with this one. Not only are they charging residents £90, but they send out traffic wardens to issue tickets to those who don't comply.
I appreciate that these schemes are necessary in areas near to the station or Kingston town centre to allow residents to park near their own homes, but they should be near self-financing.
It is no wonder that these CPZ areas are needlessly spreading into Berrylands and Tolworth - it is in Kingston Council's interest to have the whole borough covered if they are going to charge this much.