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Protest against Westminster Bike Charging – January 15 There will be a protest run against Westminster's parking charges for motorcycles this Thursday, January 15. The run will leave Park Lane at 13:15 and will go to Conservative Central Office at 30 Millbank. This particular protest is designed to call to account the Conservative Party in allowing Councillor Chalkley to introduce what is tantamount to a stealth tax on motorcyclists. This is prompted by the announcement that any conservative councillor who proposes any new stealth tax would not be regarded as a true conservative. The question then, to David Cameron, is: 'Is Chalkley going to be thrown out the party, then?' The general aim of the protests is to draw attention to the wider public that bikes have an important role to play in the vitality of Westminster and we should be recognised as being a solution to the transport problems in London , and not as part of the problem. There is a well-organized campaign against the Westminster parking tax, a campaign in which MAG is a partner. For more details, visit their website at: No to Bike Parking Fees (opens in new window). Westminster to start charging for motorcycle parking The City of Westminster will start charging for motorcycles to park from August 4. The scheme will begin with zones G & E, with zones A & F following on August 11, Zones B, C, D & H on August 18 and the Council's car parks on 25 August. Although MAG fought a string campaign against the introduction of parking charges, once the politicians ad made their minds up, we had to campaign for the best deal we could get. One result we achieved was the lowering of the proposed charge from £2 a day to £1.50, and you will also be able to buy weekly, monthly and quarterly permits as well as the annual (which was the only season ticket previously proposed). If you register your bike before August 4, you can get free parking until the end of August. For more information, visit Westminster's Motorcycle Parking Pages (opens in new window). Historic section below: Westminster City Council are conducting a review of motorcycle parking throughout the borough. This on-going process has now reached the stage where the Council are consulting on where new motorcycle bays are going to be put. The new Traffic Management Orders should be in place by the end of August, and the bays will start to be introduced from then on. The charging regime will be introduced from November, with the whole borough to be covered by April 2008. As you are aware, MAG was opposed to the introduction of charging, but we have been successful in achieving a number of concessions to the original scheme. Physical security features will only be introduced in about 40% of the bays due to various planning and heritage restrictions. However, negotiations are ongoing for all bays to be covered by CCTV, adequate lighting and proactive patrols by parking attendants. This means that if an attendant sees some-one trying to steal or interfere with your bike they WILL at the very least call the Police and take photographs. All bays will have signs giving details of how to pay the charge. This can be done via the internet, mobile telephone or standard telephone. There will be a five-minute period of grace to allow you to arrange payment. Once you have paid you will be able to park in any motorcycle bay in Westminster, allowing you to move about without having to pay again. As well as daily payment, options for longer-term permits are being negotiated, with annual, six-monthly, quarterly, monthly and weekly periods being available. MAG is currently negotiating various optional extras which could be available, such as complimentary text messages if the bay you usually use is due to be suspended, or even to let you know that your bike has been knocked over. I would like to thank everyone who took part in our survey - the results of which are now available on this site under the 'survey results' tag (warning, the file is 850 kb). Thanks for reading. Page Updated 11 January 2009
Page last modified 11 Jan 2009 |