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Sheffield Council's 1.2 Million Profits from Parking Permits!


Is 1.2 Million profit from Sheffield Parking Permits acceptable?  

172 members have voted

  1. 1. Is 1.2 Million profit from Sheffield Parking Permits acceptable?



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Our argument is that the costs and income from the schemes should be equal. Then one part of the city is not subsidising another.

 

What's wrong with some people subsidising others? Should people without kids pay less council tax? Loads of services are subsidised - housing, social services, education, etc, etc, as you should well know.

 

We don't know how much the scheme is costing and so we don't know who is subsidising whom and to what extent. Without that information I can't see how you can put a proposed price on a permit.

 

At the moment all I see is a councillor calling for his constituents to be subsidised while saying he doesn't think anyone should get a subsidy.

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Previously all the costs have been published, so how is that we don't know the cost of the scheme now?

 

---------- Post added 11-02-2014 at 07:27 ----------

 

 

You may not like permit parking zones, but many people find them a benefit. People did ask for them and they continue to do so. It may be the same old same old, but it happens to be the truth. People want permit parking because they are tired of their areas being blighted by people from outside the area parking there.

 

We've heard about this claim before, and it often turns out that the council interprets no response as tacit approval.

So in real terms your 'asked for it' or 'in favour of it' turns out to be a minority of residents.

 

---------- Post added 11-02-2014 at 07:30 ----------

 

Could you please give a breakdown of the costs involved in producing and posting out a permit please. ?

 

Can you prove this process costs the £36 the householder is charged. ?

The vast majority of the cost comes from administering the system, not from posting out a permit...

 

If a breakdown of how it costs £36 to produce and post out a permit cannot be shown can we assume the council is creaming profit from householders by charging them vastly more than the cost of producing and posting the permit. ?

 

Maybe Cllr Rob can provide this evidence if you cannot point us in the right direction . I have also , on 4 occasions emailed the council asking for a breakdown of costs for administering the permit, but surprise ,surprise i have never once received a response . I wonder why that may be.

It's a fairly simple deduction to make that the bit of paper and the cost of 2nd class postage costs <£1, but that's hardly all the costs involved in the scheme is it!

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We've heard about this claim before, and it often turns out that the council interprets no response as tacit approval.

So in real terms your 'asked for it' or 'in favour of it' turns out to be a minority of residents

 

No it doesn't. The Council have never interpreted a no response as anything other than a no response.

 

The plain fact is that it is very difficult to elicit a response to consultations from most residents and businesses. Response levels are normally quite low. Consultaions are to give decision makers a flavour of local opinion, they are not a ballot.

 

Where ballots are held, as some have been in certain parts of the city on whether or not a particualr street is included in a scheme, the basis for the ballot is clearly explained and it is normally highest number of responses for or against wins.

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FOI requests have been made about the costs of permit schemes in Sheffield.

 

For example, this re: Sharrowvale, 2008/9:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/sharrowvale_parking_scheme_permi?unfold=1

 

The Council answer broke down costs as follows:

 

Expenditure: £418,266

Income: £587,763

 

They break down expenditure further, if you want to look.

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What's wrong with some people subsidising others? Should people without kids pay less council tax? Loads of services are subsidised - housing, social services, education, etc, etc, as you should well know.

 

We don't know how much the scheme is costing and so we don't know who is subsidising whom and to what extent. Without that information I can't see how you can put a proposed price on a permit.

 

At the moment all I see is a councillor calling for his constituents to be subsidised while saying he doesn't think anyone should get a subsidy.

 

I've not got a problem with subsidising things, but believe that it should be based on a person's ability to pay not their geographical location.

 

We have an idea of the schemes costs and incomes from previous years, and believe that the 2010 prices are a good place to start to make them revenue neutral.

 

You infer that the costs of parking zones are less than their income, I have not seen any evidence to support this assumption.

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I've not got a problem with subsidising things, but believe that it should be based on a person's ability to pay not their geographical location.

 

We have an idea of the schemes costs and incomes from previous years, and believe that the 2010 prices are a good place to start to make them revenue neutral.

 

You infer that the costs of parking zones are less than their income, I have not seen any evidence to support this assumption.

 

Would you not then concede that anyone who runs a car can afford £36 per annum? It's about half a tank of gas after all. Not exactly a kings ransom when compared to the other costs of running a car.

 

So would you base all Council charges for services on a person's ability to pay?

 

And again, how does lowering the cost of motoring sit with your party's green credentials?

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FOI requests have been made about the costs of permit schemes in Sheffield.

 

For example, this re: Sharrowvale, 2008/9:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/sharrowvale_parking_scheme_permi?unfold=1

 

The Council answer broke down costs as follows:

 

Expenditure: £418,266

Income: £587,763

 

They break down expenditure further, if you want to look.

 

Good - I'm not paying for it then. Don't mind the council earning a bit out of it as it probably keeps my Council tax down a few quid.

If you don't like it, move. Fairly simple I'd have thought.

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Would you not then concede that anyone who runs a car can afford £36 per annum? It's about half a tank of gas after all. Not exactly a kings ransom when compared to the other costs of running a car.

 

So would you base all Council charges for services on a person's ability to pay?

 

And again, how does lowering the cost of motoring sit with your party's green credentials?

 

Ability to pay would presumably be assessed by looking at their income. Not some sort of blanket statement. They own a car, they can clearly afford to give the council another £36 every year.

 

The parking charge is not a "cost of motoring" since it applies to only a limited number of people.

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