The Scrutiny Committee of Hackney Council has refused to intervene in the London borough’s massive increase in motorcycle parking charges. The committee met on 24 April to hear evidence from Hackney residents, workers and carers about the disproportionately high parking charge increases – up to £50 a week – and how they would cripple predominately low-paid people in the area. But the majority of Labour councillors then voted to take no further action, with no explanation, despite the attempts of both Green and Conservative councillors.
A Save London Motorcycling spokesperson said: “We, alongside thousands of others, do not accept this result. The council has a responsibility to make policy that is evidence-based and to monitor the impact of its policies on those who will be affected most. Some of the lowest-paid workers and most vulnerable Hackney residents will suffer extreme hardship as a direct result. Yesterday’s charade of scrutiny laid bare the utter farce which is governance in Hackney today. The panel’s questions clearly revealed fundamental flaws in the policy, but still councillors voted to blindly press ahead with completely unprecedented and devastating charges without any idea what the impacts will be.
“After spending more than an hour discussing the cost of living crisis, foodbank use and the devastating impact of a £10 a week benefit cut, in the very next item councillors dismissed their £50 a week charges for motorcycle and scooter riders as being affordable and insignificant. This level of hypocrisy defies belief, and shows any pretence of Labour Hackney councillors caring about hard-pressed residents and workers is nothing but cynical empty gesturing. We urge everyone concerned with fairness and the lives and livelihoods of Hackney workers, residents, and carers to join our campaign and stand up against this injustice, and all Hackney residents to carefully consider whether this council displays the standards they want from their representatives.”
Hackney’s new bike parking charges are up to £10 a day, which is 20 times more than in any other London Borough. And the parking charge will apply even to electric bikes or mopeds, scotching even the flimsiest arguments about air pollution being a factor.