Full Council 8th Oct

Full Council – 8^th October 2013 

The Conservative Leader of the Opposition Cllr Howard Jones presented a motion, seconded by Cllr Priyen Patel, on the future of our high streets titled “Give back the control of the Community to Residents”. The motion called upon the Council to lobby the Government alongside other Local Authorities in order to gain more control in planning law to stop clusters of shops (like estate agents, betting establishments and pay-day loan companies) from blighting our high streets. 

Cllr Jones said that in New Malden there are already 5 betting shops and with the current law as it is this may increase. Cllr Dennis Doe noted that having lots of the same type of shop in one area doesn’t benefit our local economy and we needed the power to be able to prevent this. Cllr Patrick Codd explained that Kingston was once 3^rd on the league tables of the most desired shopping centres to shop in but we have dropped to 14^th because of a failure in traffic infrastructure. If we didn’t deal with the issue of the current overload of road works, we would not only lose customers from betting shops infiltrating our high streets, but also lose customers from all shops due to the current gridlock throughout Kingston. Cllr Priyen Patel concluded that if we did not act, we may become a town centre like Harrow, which has been considered to be family unfriendly and scares away prospective shoppers. Cllr Lynne Finnerty and Cllr David Cunningham also spoke on the motion. 

The motion passed unanimously.

Cllr Julie Pickering asked the Lib Dem Administration 2 questions. The first was regarding the Surbiton Health Centre Needle Exchange Service and the Leader of the Council’s decision to act without adequate evidence to support her. The second question was regarding why the Administration failed to inform residents and ward Councillors about Orchard Hill College using the Beaconsfield Resource Centre during building works, despite requests to be kept informed. Both questions were inadequately answered by the Administration and the Lib Dems openly admitted they had made a mistake with the failure to communicate to residents regarding Orchard Hill College.

Finally, 4 items passed quickly and unanimously. These items were the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, the HIV Prevention Consortium section 106 agreement with Croydon, the Health and Wellbeing Board working arrangements and the changes to Committee appointments. 

Better watch our speed

 20’s Plenty for Us Press Release 11 Oct 2013

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) have toughened up guidance on enforcing 20mph limits.  Speed offences where people live will not be tolerated.  Better enforcement both increases compliance and the safety of the UK’s streets.

ACPO have issued new guidance to forces on how to police 20mph roads (see http://www.acpo.presscentre.com/Press-Releases/ACPO-marks-refreshing-of-speed-enforcement-guidance-26e.aspx).   This comes in response to the dramatically increasing number of places democratically agreeing wide area 20mph limits plus requests from Transport Ministers, the Get Britain Cycling Enquiry and many campaigners.

Officers could soon hand out a speeding ticket and three points or offer drivers an education course and therefore avoid points on the licence. Motorists caught driving between 24mph and 31mph would be offered the speed awareness course or a fixed penalty notice fine.  Up to 34mph, they could be fined, and if they were speeding at 35mph or more they would be reported to the courts.

Already over 12m people live in places like Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and the City of London where 20mph limits will cover the majority of roads.

Founder of 20’s Plenty for Us, Rod King MBE, commented :-

“This is very timely. Many of our cities are rejecting the 30mph limits for most roads in favour of a life-enhancing 20mph limit that is becoming the norm rather than the exception. Whilst compliance comes from people understanding the benefits that come when we all drive below 20, the police play an important role in endorsing that through enforcement. Good policing comes from responding to communities and elected representative wishes and the overwhelming number of those want the police to play an active role in making those communities safer, more liveable and secure.”

20’s Plenty for Us National Campaign Manager Anna Semlyen said

“ 20mph limits are law.  Bad drivers can and should be made accountable for their actions. Speeding is anti-social, incredibly dangerous and warrants dealing with strictly. Tougher local roads policing is good news for everyone, especially the young and vulnerable.”

Our ‘Time for 20’ initiative asks the Department for Transport to allow authorities to sign exceptions to 20mph limits which cuts the cost of implementing 20mph limits by up to 50%.  http://www.20splentyforus.org.uk/its_time_for_20.htm

Our 209 20’s Plenty for Us campaign branches are at http://www.20splentyforus.org.uk/local_campaigns.htm

Our 36 Briefing Sheets on 20mph limits are at http://www.20splentyforus.org.uk/briefings.htm

See this press release at http://www.20splentyforus.org.uk/Press_Releases/Police_Toughen_20mph_Limit_Enforcement_Guidance.pdf

20’s Plenty For Us campaigns for a 20mph default speed limit in residential streets without physical calming.  Web www.20splentyforus.org.uk  Twitter @20splentyforus

For more information contact

Anna Semlyen 20’s Plenty for Us Campaign Manager anna.s@20splentyforus.org.uk 07572 120439