Resident's Parking?
OK But No-one Else!

The lunatics are running the asylum.
The latest money making wheeze is set to bankrupt the city if it goes any further in its current form.

City Council officers have created a residents' parking scheme that has been approved by councillors and is set to wipe out most of the businesses where it is applied. It will also blight churches, temples and mosques many of which will be unable to hold community events, weddings or funerals - and don't even ask about the schools. Want to know more?

 It is already in place in part of Highfields and down near the football club. They are trying to introduce it in the Westend and around the Queens Road. Belgrave is next. The way it works is this: resident's get to pay £25 per annum to park near their homes (see Val's Rant to find out why it will actually cost resident's more like £250). People who work in the area - shop keepers, teachers, bank officials, ministers, priests, mechanics, chefs, waiters, doormen - are not allowed to park at all. They must either  find some other way to get to work or they must park outside the homes of people outside their area and walk the rest of the way.

There are a lot of other flaws in this scheme but this one has to win the prize for the most stupid and ill thought out. Does the council really want to close down shops, banks and schools in parts of the city? It is true that the scheme makes money from the residents but does it really make enough to cover the enormous loss in business rates that will ensue? Will the residents all go to the polls and vote labour just because they can park, despite the fact that the area they live in will have boarded up shops? I don't think so!