The progressives say Yes!

Below is a press release put out by the Brandon Hill supporters of their parking zone. You can judge from the tone that they are pretty unhappy about the unionists saying "No!", which shows they don't understand: it's all that unionists do. If your entire notion of self is defined by fighting plans to restrict parking by the council, then of course you fight them. The founder of the Keep Parking Free group apparently fought the council in a losing battle over a new zebra crossing in Clifton because it would take away three parking spaces. But still, they must fight progress, because that defines them

The Parking Zone supporters have a web site. On the site they say they want support for the proposed schemes. If you do wish to support them, email democratic.services at bristol.gov.uk and refer to the Call-In meeting on 5th January. Statements need to be submitted before noon on the 2nd of January 2009.


NEWS RELEASE –immediate release

31st December 2008

PARKING SCHEME REFERRAL TO "CALL-IN" COMMITTEE IS FRIVOLOUS

The review of the proposals to introduce two pilot resident’s parking schemes at a special Council meeting on 5th January 2009 is an unnecessary use of public time and money.

The pilot schemes were approved at a Cabinet Meeting on 27th November but the Conservative Group decided to refer the matter to the Call-In committee. This is a cynical and frivolous move with one thing in mind – to cause delay in the introduction of the pilot schemes. The Conservative group oppose any residents’ parking scheme of any kind in the city as does their "new best friend" – the NO campaign.

The Conservatives are seeking to thwart the expressed wishes of the majority of residents in the pilot areas in Clifton and Kingsdown. It would appear the group places the car owners’ rights to do whatever they want with their vehicles in this city above those of people who wish to live a quiet and normal life. They clearly believe the car is king.

The claims that the consultation was "flawed" are spurious. No definition of a benchmark for good practice in consultation has been given or described. What is meant by "flawed"? Certainly a consultation can’t be perfect. Such a hurdle would be impossible to achieve. We believe the consultation was on balance fair. If it was imperfect in any way it was because it Residents around the city were originally asked to vote for a draconian scheme with 24 hour restrictions and no flexibility. If they didn’t like the idea of this rigid scheme, they had no choice but to vote ‘no’. Given this, if the survey was biased at all, it was towards a ‘no’ vote. This completely negates the argument that the survey was flawed in favour of a ‘yes’ vote.

The Yes to Residents Parking Zone campaign team has been formed by a group of non-aligned residents in the Clifton Wood area. We have no connection with Bristol Council or any of the political parties. We have been circulating leaflets in the Brandon Hill zone and urging those in support of the pilots to submit statements to the Call-In committee and to attend this meeting.

We will be attending Call-In Committee on Monday 5th January and will oppose any consideration to refer the RPZ proposals to either a full Council Meeting or Cabinet meeting.

Our website address is: http://www.yestorpz.info

For further information contact: Stephen Perry 0117 904 0287, 07960 525191