Wednesday 4 January

Why won't anyone make the case for fewer West End parking spaces?

By Mike Pollitt 2:04 PM

The Standard reports on the ongoing Westminster parking saga. Long story short: they want to reduce the number of parking spaces and charge more for the ones that are left, and are going about it in a fairly skullduggerous manner.

Says Mayor Johnson: “This is a deeply cynical move and an appalling breach of faith. Small businesses, churchgoers, actors, and thousands of decent Londoners rely on the West End for their livelihood and we all rely on them to maintain the economic vitality of our great city.”

Ken Livingstone: “Westminster council seems to have taken leave of its senses.”

Brian Paddick: “This is absolutely outrageous behaviour by Westminster council. They are quite clearly hell-bent on damaging the economy of the West End in order to raise money from motorists.”

Call me Mr Contrarian, but in the long run would it not be better for the city to have fewer people driving in to the West End, having abandoned their cars in favour of public transport? Yes I know, fares are up. But the principle surely holds. It would be better for the environment, better for pedestrians, better for cyclists, better for the air…And yet no one will argue for it.

Livingstone and Johnson couldn’t, of course, because the headlines would be appalling. But Paddick could have flipped this issue round to push for a greener, more sustainable city centre without endorsing Westminster’s sneakery. But he didn’t, which disappoints.

Evening Standard – West End parking banned by stealth