Why main parties all like residents’ parking charges
Oxford City Council’s attempts to resist charges for residents’ parking appear to have petered out after the Conservative-run cabinet in charge of Oxfordshire County Council voted unanimously to press ahead with the scheme earlier this month.
The Tory county councillors decided to completely ignore the results of their own consultation, which showed that over two-thirds of Oxford residents in the proposed parking zones are against the charges. None of the county council divisions in Oxford is represented by a Conservative councillor.
To add insult to injury, Oxford council tax-payers will have to foot their share of the £58,000 bill for the pointless consultation exercise.
But in spite of brave talk from the city council about a legal challenge, it looks as if the residents’ parking charges will face no further obstacle, especially as council tax payers would have to pay court costs whether the city or the county wins.
Councillors from all parties on the city council (which doesn’t include any Tories) were vocal in their opposition to the scheme. But where do the political parties really stand?
What the apparently outraged Labour and Lib Dem councillors don’t choose to mention is that there are numerous Labour and Lib-Dem controlled councils across the UK that implement similar charges. Are we really expected to believe that these same parties would never introduce residents’ parking charges in Oxford?
Like many of the ills we face today, the facility for councils to introduce their own parking zones and charges was introduced by the last Conservative government and then extended by New Labour. Legislation in 2004 allowed local authorities to use any surplus money from their parking schemes on transport-related spending.
This effectively means that councils can levy parking charges in order to raise money rather than simply to deal with parking and congestion issues (even if the money has to be spent on transport this still frees up funds that can be used elsewhere).
In itself there is nothing wrong with giving local government more freedom to operate, at least where there is genuine democratic control. However, as local authorities can’t significantly increase their revenue without sky-high increases in council tax, there is a powerful incentive for them to try to raise money by other means, such as charges for residents’ parking.
What seems to lie behind this is New Labour’s privatisation agenda—an agenda shared equally by the Conservatives and the Lib Dems. Parking enforcement used to be carried out by the police, funded by general taxation. The move to introduce separate charges, like congestion charges and road pricing, is a move towards the privatisation of road-space by creating a market for it.
Like privatisation in health care and schools, the privatisation of road-space benefits the wealthy, who can pay for a better service. They can enjoy quieter roads and more convenient parking because there will be fewer working class people who can afford to share the roads with them.
The IWCA has consistently opposed residents’ parking charges because it opposes the principle they are based on—privatisation. All the other mainstream parties are happy with this principle and that’s why Labour and the Lib Dems can oppose residents’ parking charges in Oxford while introducing them elsewhere.
Controlled Parking Zone in Blackbird/Greater Leys
Residents’ permits for the part-time controlled parking zones on the estate will cost £10 per vehicle for a year. Visitors’ permits will still be free.
Permits issued before the charging scheme is introduced will remain valid until they expire.
Leys Independent, issue 34, October 2006
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