FEATURE THE BIG INTERVIEW
look carefully at car parks they have designated
‘free to residents’. ‘Tere is no such thing as free parking, and you
have to think about other motorists. If you allow some residents to park for free, you are actually taxing other residents in another area. Tese are the situations that parking departments need to be looking at.’ Te other area that is vital to the success of
the parking industry is the training given to staff. Baker is concerned that training for all areas of the industry should focus on putting fairness and transparency towards the customer at the heart of their work.
A green manifesto Te green commitment of the Liberal Democrats was well-documented prior to the election. How far would the coalition government support this agenda? Baker was very emphatic that the government would continue to work on environmental issues and was able to report that £40,000 had been pledged to aid the development of car clubs throughout the UK. And, thanks to £15m of additional government funding, more than 150 low- carbon buses will join fleets throughout England, saving around 50,000 tonnes of CO2. Te Green Bus Fund began life as a Labour
initiative and is intended to put low carbon buses within the reach of as many operators and local authorities as possible throughout England. Bus operators and councils can bid for the money,
which they can then use towards the additional upfront cost of buying low-carbon buses. Talking about the scheme, Baker said: ‘We want
to support new transport technologies to help make our transport system greener and more sustainable.’ However, he was not able to defend the
government’s decision to cut £500m from the Bus Service Operator Grant (BSOG), which will lead to a
Fact file: Norman Baker
l Born July 1957 l MP for Lewes, East Sussex, since 1997 l First non-Conservative MP for Lewes
since 1874 l Elected onto Joint Committee on Human
Rights from 2001-2005 l Shadow Environment Secretary 2002 l Promoted to Shadow Secretary of State
for Transport in 2007 l President of the Tibet Society l Married with one daughter
26 AUGUST 2010
Car clubs will receive a financial boost under the coalition government
6.7 per cent reduction in bus services, in some of the remoter parts of England, and a 6.5 per cent rise in fares on many bus routes. ‘Te most serious challenge facing this
government is the economic situation. Te money wasted by the last government has left us with this financial mess, and that means we do have to make some cuts.
We want to support new transport technologies to help make our transport system greener and more sustainable
‘It is like a car that is running on very little oil. You
have to stop the car otherwise you will blow up the engine. We are in the process of stopping the car and refilling the oil.’ Speaking of the cuts, Baker said that the
government priority was to provide as good a service to the public as possible, while trying to get the economy back on track. One practical way in which the government will be looking to help the parking industry to weather the financial storm is a whole-scale renewal of signage, which Baker says is both inconsistent and out-of-date. ‘Many parking regulations are out of date, so
we will be working with our partners in parking, including the BPA, to address this.’ ‘I would like to see both the public and private
sector working hard to give parking a better public perception. It should be fair, and it should be uncontroversial. At the moment, councils have some way to go and private operators have a long, long way to go.’
www.britishparking.co.uk
© BEN WATKINS PHOTOGRAPHY
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