Free Car Parking in Abingdon – “recommend against”

In preparation for considering the short term free parking in Abingdon car parks this week (on the 8th of July 2011), the Vale of White Horse officers have published a helpful report.

Read it here: http://whitehorsedc.moderngov.co.uk/Published/C00000507/M00001571/AI00015873/$FreeshortstayparkingreportJuly2011v8final.docA.ps.pdf

In summary:

  1. Under the proposed scheme, income will not meet expenses.
  2. Net loss is expected to be about £200,000 per year. That’s £1,000,000 in the next 5 years.
  3. There is no evidence that free parking increases footfall in town centres.
  4. If the Tories authorise using “new homes bonuses” from developers to subsidize free parking, then those funds are not available for enhancing community services or infrastructure.
  5. The financial officer “strongly recommends against” adopting the free parking scheme.

In my view, adopting the free parking scheme is a wrong action to take, given the following:

  1. There  is no evidence free car parking will be effective at revitlizing Abingdon town centre

  2. There isn’t a plan to pay for it

  3. Income to local councils is expected to be limited further by the central government, and this is an income already in place (therefore not too painful, and difficult to replace).

And finally, this free parking scheme benefits a small sub-group of the Vale population: those who drive their cars into Abingdon during daytime hours. For those of us who don’t do that, it provides no benefit, and LOTS of costs, which will have to be made-up somehow, presumably in cuts to services.

I SAY NO!!

If you agree with me, write to the cabinet members today.

  • Matthew.Barber@WhiteHorsedc.gov.uk
  • Roger.Cox@WhiteHorsedc.gov.uk
  • Yvonne.Constance@WhiteHorsedc.gov.uk
  • Reg.Waite@WhiteHorsedc.gov.uk
  • Elaine.Ware@WhiteHorsedc.gov.uk

Unvaled – Summer 2011

You can see the summer 2011 edition of Unvaled here.

The Tory-led Vale council doesn’t seem to be committed to communications with residents: they are considering discontinuing this community newsletter.

The new council is also looking at the future of Unvaled, and
whether it should continue to produce a magazine for
residents. Please let us know what you think by emailing
haveyoursay@southandvale.gov.uk or call 01235 547614

If you like reading Unvaled, and like hearing how the Vale is putting your money to work, send them your views by email (or phone, but I’m suspicious of anything that doesn’t have an electronic records these days.)

Get it Sorted Sessions

County Councillor Janet Godden and I are collaborating to bring a Get It Sorted session to a location near you. We’ll have a session every other month, and hold it at a different venue each time, so that everyone will have a session near where you live. I hope you’ll come along and meet us!

No matter your local government-related question, you’re likely to find the answer at a Get It Sorted session. District concerns are things like planning applications, rubbish and recycling, housing. County concerns include road repair, education and social care.

The first Get It Sorted session will be Tuesday, 13 Sept 2011, from 6-7pm. We don’t have a location determined yet (today is 30 Jun 2011) — but as soon as it’s firmed up, I’ll post an update here.

I hope you’ll come along so we can meet IRL (in real life). I’d like to hear what you think.

Why have a Councillor’s blog?

I’m in earnest discussion with some of the Vale Councillors as to the value of having a blog site. They wonder, if I have no real idea whether people come to read what I have to say, is it worth the time spent?

I usually work a strategy based on first deciding the overall thing I’m trying to achieve, or the longer-term goal. In this context, by  ‘longer-term’ I mean 3-4 years or so. Medium term would be over a year. And Everything less would be ‘short-term’.

In this case, unashamedly, one of my longer terms goals is to get re-elected. In order to get re-elected, I think it’s important to keep in touch with the people who will vote for me. Newsletters, flyers, knocking on doors, Twitter, and blogging are all good ways to do that. I want to find a way to keep in touch with people who are online, which I think hasn’t been done very well (or at all) in the past. So, that’s why I have a blog.

Please let me know what sort of communications you value, and what types of things you want to hear about. If I don’t hear from you about what you want, then I can just keep on writing about the things I want. 🙂

The graphic here is called a Wordle. This one happens to be Obama’s inauguration speech. You can make one of any written doc, through the Wordle website.

What happens to my recycling after it’s picked up?

At the North Hinksey Parish Council meeting in May 2011, Cllr Ag McKeith relayed a question from one of our residents, who sought reassurance that the recycling effort was still working, even with the sound of breaking glass she heard as the men picked up the bins near her home.

I spoke with Clare Kingston, the Office in charge of recycling for the Vale, plus did a bit of my own sleuthing, and learned a few valuable things:

  • Vale recycling rate shot up from 38% under the old scheme to 70% with the new one, making our recycling rate one of the best in the country!
  • More information about what happens to your recycling is planned for the next issue of Unvaled. The current issue is available on the Vale’s new website www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk. Search for Unvaled.
  • The service provider, Verdant, will soon be offering arranged site visits, so we’ll be able to see for ourselves how the recycling centre processes our stuff.

Blue Peter, ever the champion of explaining how things work, joined a recycling collection in the midlands, which works much like ours. Watch and see the recycling at Greenstar’s super MRF (Materials Reclamation Facility) at Aldridge, near Birmingham, which is where the Vale’s residential collectibles for recycling end up:   http://www.biffa.co.uk/about-biffa/media-centre/videos.html

On the video, you’ll see that a load of mixed recycling (plastic, glass, paper, cardboard, metal all together) is dumped into a giant feeder bin that’s processed by high tech machines and computers, helped by people who make sure things go where they should. For example, as the mixed material passes through on a conveyor belt, people first pick out the light-weight plastic (shopping bags, loo roll or bread wrappers, cling film, etc) and toss them up a giant hoover to be gathered and re-used. Giant cogs shake up the materials to extract the cardboard. The glass breaker machine yields small pieces of glass and sends it to manufacturers of glass products. A magnet-based machine separates steel from aluminium.

Once I saw this video, I understood why crisps and sweets wrappers can’t be recycled: they’re bonded metal and plastic that can’t be separated. It’s the same for the blister packs that tablets come in. And it’s thoughtful to make sure your recycling is clean.

Sometimes we might find aspects of the rubbish and recycling collection annoying. But if we keep in mind how each household’s efforts contribute to the overall success, then it’s a good trade-off. Every time we fill a green bin and set it out for collection, we save taxpayer money, natural resources, and precious landfill space.

What you can recycle: http://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/services-and-advice/recycling-rubbish-and-waste/household-collections/recycling/what-can-i-recycle

New Vale of White Horse Website Goes Live

The new look Vale website at www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk launched on Wednesday the 23rd of June 2011.

As well as including all the best features from our old site, residents will be greeted by a fresh looking, much
less cluttered homepage, with a brand new navigation structure to help residents reach the service/
information they are looking for as quickly and easily as possible.

Please note, if you have the council’s website added to your browser favourites, you will need to add it
again. You may also find searches in Google take a few days to update.

For more information or to give us your feedback on the site contact:

Vic Buckett-Hipgrave
01491 823108
victoria.buckett-hipgrave@southandvale.gov.uk

or

Helen Strain
01491 823931
helen.strain@southandvale.gov.uk