Today the LibDem Council have announced a change in the CPZ policy reducing the proposed permit prices for residents. Although this is a climb-down and it shows the Council are in disarray over this matter we believe that the new proposal is simply not good enough.
While proposals aim to link just CPZ Residents Parking Permits with vehicle emissions it cannot be acceptable as it remains discriminatory and none-effective. If we stop here and accept the principle now, there will be nothing to stop the Council coming back next year to increase the prices again? By that time we would have collectively accepted that it is OK to link Permits to vehicle emissions and so it will be harder to fight against future increases.
So we have to keep campaigning against it and we keep needing your help!
First of all we need to increase our CPZ Campaign Distribution list. Liz Green, the Leader of the Council, raised the point that although the Council received many objections, as a proportion it was less than 10% of affected residents ...
It is, therefore, imperative that we reach out to more residents. Presently we have a list of 350 contacts. If you haven't done so yet, please send us an email (kingstonCPZ@gmail.com) so collectively we will be in a much stronger position plus we can keep you up-to-date of the campaign. In addition it would be great if you can reach out to your neighbours and ask them to email us too.
Further, many of you might already be aware that the petition for a Community Motion surpassed the required 500 signatures. This now means that the CPZ Proposal will be discussed at the next Council meeting on the 24th April.
At the meeting the named Petitioner Mr James Giles will speak. In addition, 10 other residents will be permitted to address the Council for a max of 3 minutes each. We need 6 more volunteer speakers to help with this. Obviously we need to organise this session well - we would not want 10 people to speak independently and make the same points 10 times. So we have themed the slots into the following categories:
- Environmental Speakers * 2 Speakers - we require 1 volunteer
- Addressing the bad Proposal * 2 Speakers - we require 1 volunteer
- Reasons for Objection * 1 Speaker
- Legal Clarity * 1 - we require 1 volunteer preferably with legal experience (solely for impact …not to offer professional opinion)
- Resident Stories * 3 - we require 3 volunteers
The Council Meeting April 24th is scheduled to start at 7:30 pm at the Guildhall. However, our Motion is unlikely to be heard before 9 pm. We would therefore suggest arriving from 8:45 pm to offer your support to our speakers.
It would be great if you can confirm your attendance of the meeting with us (kingstonCPZ@gmail.com), as it is good to understand the numbers involved. Ideally we like to get at least 100 people to attend. So please come if you can make it.
Also, volunteers who wish to speak if you can get in touch we can then provide details of each theme (with some pointers for content)…we want to make sure that there is as little duplication as possible and we have to submit names prior to the meeting.
In summary please help us by:
- Joining our CPZ Campaign Distribution list (kingstonCPZ@gmail.com)
- Recruiting at least 2 new people to join the above list
- Attending the Council Meeting 24th April (please email us to let us know)
- Volunteering to speak in a 3 minute slot for the Community motion 24th April
Thank you!
Here some relevant links:
Kingston LibDems announcement:
https://www.kingstonlibdems.org/clean_air_strategy_for_kingston
Local Response:
http://kingstonenquirer.co.uk/lib-dems-in-chaos-after-2000-sign-petition-on-parking-charges-but-refuse-to-back-down/
Community Motion (see point 8 in the below agenda):
https://moderngov.kingston.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=137&MId=8531
Latest report in MyLondon News/ Surrey Comet about the residents meeting:
https://www.mylondon.news/news/west-london-news/kingston-residents-getting-more-more-16135433