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NEWS NATIONAL NEWS


Newsdesk: 01223 273526 editor@britishparking.co.uk


Strength in numbers


T e formation of the UK’s fi rst ‘super council’ will generate savings of £50 to £100m a year, it is claimed by council bosses. And parking departments, like most other frontline services, will be subject to a radical overhaul. T e London Boroughs


of Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster are planning to merge local authority services ranging from chief executive and senior directors to street cleaners and social workers. Under the plans, each authority would keep its council leaders and local ward councillors. In a joint statement,


the leaders of the three councils – Colin Barrow


from Westminster, Stephen Greenhalgh from Hammersmith and Fulham and Sir Merrick Cockell from Kensington and Chelsea – said that with cuts in central government spending to reduce the national defi cit, their priority was to protect frontline services. ‘Ensuring we can


provide a high standard of local services in today’s tough economic climate means thinking diff erently about how we operate, concentrating on what’s important to the people we serve and ensuring we continue to care for the most vulnerable in our communities.’ ‘To achieve this in the


age of austerity, we need to seriously examine new ways of working


chief executives to examine the proposals before reporting back next year. T e statement said:


‘In the coming weeks, we will set up a series of working groups to develop and study options for three main areas: environmental services, family services and corporate services.’ T ey said staff would


including sharing service provision with other local authorities to deliver more for less. ‘T at is why we


have met and agreed to progress to plans to share every council service between our three councils. T is may include merging services to reduce


HIT AND RUN COSTS DEAR


CCTV cameras may have their critics, but one statistic suggests that they have a part to play in ensuring motorists are not left out of pocket. Figures released by driver support company Accident Exchange claim that a fifth of drivers who hit a parked car flee the scene if the driver is not there. With each victim


of ‘prang and run’ facing an average bill of £1,800 in repair costs and a loss of no-claims benefit plus


6 DECEMBER 2010


duplication and drive out needless cost. ‘While we won’t rule


anything out at this stage, we expect to focus quite quickly on a few major areas where sharing and merging services is viable and good for the public.’ T e authorities said they had asked their


be consulted at every stage and, once plans were established, they would be made public. ‘Our plans may be the


fi rst of their kind, but sharing of services can no longer be viewed as a radical concept. It will soon become the norm for local authorities looking for innovative ways to keep costs down while delivering quality frontline services.’


RINGGO HEADS STATESIDE


UK company RingGo has broken into the competitive US market with the acquisition of all the substantive assets of iControl Mobile Payments LLC for an undisclosed sum. The consideration is payable in cash and will be settled out of existing resources.


iControl Mobile is one of the most successful of the recent US start-ups in the emergent fi eld of phone parking and it has operational contracts both on the East Coast and in the central rust belt of America. Existing management will continue to run the business.


Harry Clarke, commercial director of RingGo, said: ‘iControl Mobile is an important acquisition for RingGo and a useful stepping stone into the US market.


a hefty excess charge, the practice is costing motorists at least £169m a year. Research, involving 50,000 insurance


claims, found that 80 per cent of accidents involved vehicles parked on-street with the rest occurring in car parks.


‘Our dominance of the UK market leads us to seek to serve new territories, and North America has, for some time, been one of our preferred choices. We are delighted to have secured this deal with iControl and are pleased that the majority of customer-facing iControl employees are transferring, too.’


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