Forum Topic

CPZ - Cllr Melvin Collins response

I sent an e-mail to Andrew Nye and our local councillors asking if they could clarify when the start date was and also asking about the hours of operation. This is Cllr Melvin Collins response...Hi Caroline May I remind you that CPZs are automatically reviewed in 6 months time from 27 April.  My Facilitator, Eileen, knows of a road with 8.30-6.30pm in Ealing.  It is completely empty during the day as a result and is not the best use of the space.  May I also remind you that residents do NOT necessarily have the right to park in their road.  This ‘gift’ come from the Council. With kind regards Cllr Melvin CollinsBrentford WardMob: 07925 693655Via Eileen HendersonFacilitatorWords fail me...

caroline small ● 3770d26 Comments

This email is to offer apologies to Caroline Small for any offence Cllr Mel Collins caused by the email below. No offence was intended and I hope this will be accepted.We would also like to thank those residents who responded with positive comments on Cllr Collin's support for residents in Brentford ward.Sent on behalf of Cllr Mel Collin.

Myra Vivien Savin ● 3745d

She wrote the response, without his knowledge apparently. I have no recollection of her being elected.

Caroline Small ● 3751d

Sorry Eileen but what did you set straight ? All you did was repeat most of what everyone said. Everyone is talking about the his disability and how long he has worked for, but issue here is the reponse was not nice....

Rakesh Patel ● 3752d

Just a short note to everyone.  Thank you to all those who have championed Cllr Mel Collins.  There IS more to the story than has been let on.Cllr Mel Collins is Registered Blind.  He is already retired.  Like all Councillors there is a very very small stipend which he receives from the Council.  He is not eligible for a Pension from the Council.  Mel is very very active as a Councillor and as a retiree he is able to attend a lot of meetings during the day which most other Councillors cannot.  His diary can be so full it can be difficult sometimes meeting up to catch up with emails but we find a way.  Luckily he has an exceptional memory and more often than not tells me which meeting he has to go to! and what we have to catch up on.Just wanted to set it straight.

Eileen Henderson ● 3753d

Haha. No problem Alex. I hadn;t realised that my car was longer than the width of my house until reading it was here, it made me chuckle!

Nick Fichte ● 3766d

Indeed Raymond. Most important is good considerate parking, and not the fact that someone drives a 4wd or an Audi A6.(Sorry Nick, really the only reason I mentioned A6 is that I wanted to stress that driving a 4wd is no worse than driving a saloon or anything else when it comes to parking space).

Alex Shpinkov ● 3766d

Trouble is we no have long cars, short cars, tall cars and wide cars and not so many small cars.Even the Mini is considerably larger that its original namesake.Old cars look so small nowadays even the bigger cars like Austin Cambridges', Ford Cortina's  and Rover 100s look small alongside comparable modern models.If we all had 1960s sized cars we would probable have an extra dozen spaces in our road. The real key is, as Nick says, good considerate parking whatever the vehicle, It's neighbourly and makes the best of what there is.

Raymond Havelock ● 3767d

OK so I own an Audi A6 and park it in Brentford so it may well be mine being talked about! I always try to park very considerately. When they painted the lines on the road I was hoping they would put markers for car sized spaces. So many people seem to be so inept when it comes to parking I am tempted to draw up the spaces myself with a can of white spray paint!

Nick Fichte ● 3767d

I will second that. He is doing his best for one of my friends caught up in the rather bonkers red tape of the CPZ as are other councillors.So it's rather refreshing for me to say this.

Raymond Havelock ● 3768d

I would just like to say although Melvin is not of my political persuasion a fact that Melvin is very aware of I have found him to be a good Councillor who works hard on behalf of his residents myself included despite his disability.

Robert Ayres ● 3768d

Yes there is a lot of awful parking. Some seem completely oblivious to parking up close ( but not too close to another vehicle. Some are so poor at parking I wonder how they ever passed the test! I can park in really tight spaces without scuffing or touching other vehicles and quite a few others are pretty deft at parking. It is clearly a skill that is honed by the circumstances. But when people park sensibly and with consideration it makes a difference creates at lest 4 extra spaces over 100m.Why have Audi's become so big?  I went for a ride in the Audi 4x4 I was amazed at how cramped it felt inside. A sort of Tardis inverted!

Raymond Havelock ● 3768d

Raymond, I just have to point out that a BMW 525 not far from my house is actually longer than the Audi 4wd you are referring to. And so is Audi A6 parked not far from that Audi 4wd. And a small Ford Focus is parked occupying 2 spaces - my car and one more used to be parked where this Ford parked later leaving half a car space in front and behind him

Alex Shpinkov ● 3768d

Cannot agree more Reg! So much space is wasted due to the bad inconsiderate parking by some drivers!

Alex Shpinkov ● 3769d

Problems also caused by numptys who insist on taking up 2 parking spaces or haven't got the common sense or common courtesy to park up to the line at the start of a block and park 5 feet in from the line.

Reg Ghosh ● 3769d

Agree about 'super permits' - much more suitable in Osterley than Brentford or Chiswick with their lack of off-street.

Ian Speed ● 3769d

I think that is an accidentally clumsy written letter. Nothing more.However. it does make a point which is causing concern in other boroughs, which has also been raised here.Some CPZs have cleared whole streets of vehicles. One perfect example is the Park Hill/Corfton road area of Ealing, Wide streets devoid of vehicles but every house has a forecourt for anything from 3 to 7 cars plus garaging. Thus no resident even needs to buy a permit. So Ealing Council has decided to sell premium parking permits to anyone who can afford them.Sounds logical. But it's flawed.They are also selling them for zones where space is not so abundant.Zones in areas like here in Brentford, will have more permits than spaces. An Audi 4wd currently parked outside my house (not mine) is longer than our house is wide and some households have 2 or 3 cars.It is easy to see issuing super permits to non residents would bring the problem full circle.In Ealing, this has already resulted in permit paying residents finding their streets full at anytime with non residents vehicles who hold anywhere permits but are not residents. The problem area is reported as Culmington Road and Mattock Lane where A2Dominion (again) have moved in to a residential area.The revelation that Ealings Cabinet portfolio Cllr in charge of Parking is also an accountant at A2Dominon who are also the first recipients of 'super permits'.Doctors and medical operatives in the fields are having to pay for permits "Due to abuse of use"  Surely a simple solution is a free permit for the boundaries in which they practice. Who is going to object to that?In other words back to square one, how it was pre- CPZ.  A tussle for a parking space but now residents are paying a fee.It is also unfair in that it is only the wealthy, or senior corporate employees who can afford these 'super permits' and yet at the same time, genuine local residents are being denied permits because they are students, car sharers or for some reason, their car is not registered to their address. Which is not illegal in any way.  One of my neighbours here is having this problem.It should be simple. Proof of residency, proof of vehicle ownership and that should be it.  Free permits for over 75s and free visitor permits for over 70s without cars.  Fair and flexible. Super permits? Fine, but only for areas where there is an abundance of spaces and minimal uptake on permits.

Raymond Havelock ● 3769d

An additional point:A charged CPZ is clearly not a gift. However, in the absence of a CPZ residents of a street have exactly the same right to park in their street as any other vehicle driver  whose vehicle is properly taxed.

John Connelly ● 3770d

To amplify the point made by John Todd, Mel Collins has had very limited vision since birth. He reads in braille and his facilitator would have typed any e-mails he received into braille in order for him to reply.Caroline would have assisted this thread by telling us what she actually said about operating hours for the CPZ. Mel's reference to an all day CPZ in Ealing appears to be a reply to a specific point. It would have been helpful to readers to know exactly what it was.

John Connelly ● 3770d

Mel Collins mentions an extremely good point, namely that a residents-demanded CPZ needs to be balanced against whether they use the spaces they have forced commuters out of. It sounds like the road Mel mentions should be opened up at least to other LBE residents on payment of a 'roamer' fee, something which should also apply (to LBH residents) to underused spaces in the Osterley and West Thames College zones.

Ian Speed ● 3770d

Cllr Collins is partially blind and has help. He has always read his papers pre meetings.No LBH Cllr. Is eligible for a pension from LBH.I'm unhappy with his mention of a CPZ permit being a gift. It's  a facility that residents are entitled to on payment of a fee -recently increased by 12.5%.

John Todd ● 3770d

The fact that Mel Collins walks with a white stick might provide a clue as to why he has a helper.As far as I know councillors get no pension.You can argue with what Mel says if you like but he works extremely hard for Brentford and deserves a bit of respect as his excellent result in the last election illustrates.

Guy Lambert ● 3770d

Cllr Collins may have a facilitator because he is blind.As a Councillor he may be entitled to a small pension under a scheme that has been running since 2003 although that scheme is being scrapped after the next election. Even if he had been a Councillor for the last 12 year, which I'm not sure he has, the amount would probably be much less than the basic state pension.

Dan Evans ● 3770d

FYI - This guys is a joke...go to Ruth, she deals with this much better...Maybe Melvin is one of these councillor who are just waiting to retire on a big pension....

Rakesh Patel ● 3770d

lol this is so funny. I think we as locals paying our council tax on time is a "Gift"

Rakesh Patel ● 3770d

Why do we keep electing such councillors?

Alex Shpinkov ● 3770d

Lol complete gobbledygook and since when did councillors have facilitators to do their "work" and are they paid?

Paul Fisher ● 3770d