Bristol Council covers up its history of backing colour bar on buses

50 years ago today, after a boycott by passengers, the Bristol Omnibus Company ended their ban on employing ethnic minorities as bus drivers and bus conductors. Newsnight had a report on the matter last night.

The "colour bar" was supported by region of the Transport and General Workers Union (as Unite the Union was then known.)

Such a mentality in the trade unions was not unusual, at home or abroad. In South Africa the white trade unions keenly supported the "pass laws" which meant their members did not have to face a competitive labour market.

There were other restrictions which had an indirect racist impact.

Most notoriously the Dock Labour Scheme (abolished by Margaret Thatcher in 1989) effectively excluded black people from becoming dockers. The jobs were passed down the generations to the sons of existing dockers. The Transport and General Workers Union had control of recruitment.

Local government must look to the past

It's rather a relief for a think tank to produce a paper urging us to look to the past. The History Boys from the New Local Government Network seeks to do so. I'm not sure how much of a guide to policy it is but there are some inspiring anecdotes.

Cities Minister, Greg Clark, who is an MP and has been a councillor, has this to say of the collection of essays:

You don’t just see the impact of what you decide on a page of statistics, but on the streets where you live and the faces of your neighbours.

I believe that this direct connection to the community is what inspired great local leaders like Joseph Chamberlain to achieve what they did. And it is why it is so important that we should remember not only their inspirational example, but also what happened next: how the powers of local democracy were usurped by Whitehall and Westminster.

Today, as we seek to turn the tide of centralisation, we need to learn all the lessons that history can teach us. That is why this collection of essays – brought together by the New Local Government Network – is so important. Through the City Deals programme and other reforms, my hope is that we will lay the foundation for a second golden age of local government, but in the meantime I draw great encouragement from these tales of the first.

Using Zipcars is saving Croydon Council £756,000 a year

I have been critical of Conservative-run Croydon Council for increasing Council Tax this year.

However the council are to be commended for their review of staff transport which has produced considerable savings.

Cllr Sara Bashford, the Cabinet Member for Corporate and Voluntary Services, says that in 2010 the Council switched from the traditional fleet approach and started a pilot scheme with the UK's largest pay-as-you-go car network, Zipcar:

The idea is simple: rather than owning a car outright or leasing a fleet, we have exclusive access to 23 vehicles during standard working hours, which is when we actually need them.

Cllr Bashford adds of the results:

• Annual travel costs were cut by 42% from £1.3m to £756,000.

• Employee business miles fell by 42% each year, from 1.1m to 642,000 miles.

• We encouraged more of our employees to use public transport or walk to work and council employee car users have fallen by more than half.

• The pay-as-you-go approach has also proven to be more sustainable, with council employee's Co2 emissions footprint decreasing by more than a third.

As well as saving money and proving more environmentally friendly, we were also able to use the cars to help out local residents. The additional 23 vehicles were available outside of council working hours to Croydon's 1,300 Zipcar members. Using the cars for both public and private use is a great example of how a single investment in an innovative service can bring about benefits that go beyond the council to directly help the community we serve.

Something for other councils to look at.

Oxfordshire County Council proposes new bus lanes to raise revenue from fines

Oxfordshire County Council, a Conservative/Independents alliance, is proposing new bus lanes with the explicit intention of increasing revenue from fines. There are already far too many bus lanes. They are imposed to punish motorists rather than with a balanced view of whether they reduce overall journey times. Where bus lanes are in place, the damage they cause by increasing congestion could at least be limited by allowing taxis, motorcycles, and cars with two or more passengers to use them - a policy that Conservatives have considered in the past.

The proposal from Oxfordshire is particularly dubious after the ruling for Barnet Council that reinforced the existing law that councils can not increase fines on motorists in order to subsidise spending elsewhere. Not even other transport spending - for example a contribution to the Freedom Pass for pensioners using the bus or the tube.

In her ruling on the Barnet case, Mrs Justice Lang said:

"Where a public body uses its discretionary powers to levy taxes, the courts will strike down demands which are unauthorised by statute. In Vestey v Inland Revenue Commissioners [1980] AC 1148, Lord Wilberforce said at 1172D/E: "Taxes are imposed upon subjects by Parliament. A citizen cannot be taxed unless he is designated in clear terms by a taxing Act as a taxpayer and the amount of his liability is clearly defined."

Sounds right to me. It's a great thing about the British constitution that we have the rule of law rather than a bunch of state gangsters helping themselves to our money whenever they feel like it. It goes back a bit further than 1980. The Magna Carta of 1215 said "scrutage" - as tax used to be called - could be taken having "obtained the common counsel of our Kingdom."

In 1689 the Bill of Rights added:

"That levying money for or to the use of the crown, by pretence of prerogative, without grant of parliament, for longer time, or in other manner than the same is or shall be granted, is illegal."

I am pleased that Cllr Arash Fatemian, the Cabinet Member for Finance in Oxfordshire, is open-minded about finding ways to reduce costs and raise revenue. Renting out the County Hall as a wedding venue sounds good. I have already offered his council some other ideas that could be used instead of putting up Council Tax. The council leader dismissed criticism of the Council Tax rise saying this was "London/urban myopia." Then the council elections in Oxfordshire saw the Conservatives lose 14 seats and overall control of the council. Perhaps rural voters don't like tax hikes either.

But when it comes to imposing taxes without the authority of Parliament, under the pretence that they are fines, I part company with Cllr Fatemian. He is right to seek to avoid further Council Tax rises. But at least that tax is honest, legal theft. Stealth taxes are a poor alternative. Clogging up the roads of Oxfordshire with unwanted bus lanes as a brazen revenue raising scam is liable to land him in court. Perhaps the verdict will take a couple of years - which would be appropriate, offering a chance to uphold the Magna Carta on its 800th anniversary.

I urge Cllr Fatemian to look at other options.

Let's have fewer roads painted with double yellow lines

It is reported that the Communities and Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles, is proposing changing the guidance so that motorists should be allowed to park on a double yellow line (or single yellow line when the restrictions apply) for 15 minutes before getting a ticket.

What actually emerges as policy remains to be seen. The Lib Dems have a strong anti-motorist faction. The Transport Minister, Norman Baker, the Lib Dem MP for Lewes, says allowing parking for "very long periods of time" would be "unworkable."

Does he think 15 minutes is a "very long period"?

There is already usually a "period of grace" allowed for loading and unloading. Why is that "workable" for loading, but "unworkable" for a pop to the shops? Why is it "workable" for five minutes but "unworkable" for 15? Does he think it is "unworkable" for his constituents in Lewes to be allowed 20 minutes for loading and unloading on yellow lines by East Sussex County Council?

Lib Dems attacks 20 mph speed limit

Labour-run York City Council's plan for a city wide 20 mph speed limit is being opposed by Lib Dem councillors. A consultation on the "roll out" to West York of the speed limit resulted in seven residents out of the 13,000 consulted supporting the £500,000 scheme - so Labour decided to press ahead.

Cllr Steve Galloway says:

Evidence from elsewhere in the country with blanket schemes undermines the recommendation. In Portsmouth casualty levels are higher than before the scheme was implemented and in Oxford “a similar pattern is emerging”. In Bristol residents do not feel that the roads are safer or that speeding has reduced. And returning to Portsmouth, the scheme has not encouraged a ‘modal shift’ away from car use or encouraged cycling and walking with analysis concluding that the scheme “made little difference to the majority of respondents in the amount they travelled by their chosen mode”.

The evidence is that locally and nationally the police do not have the resources or inclination to enforce all new 20mphs, with the Association of Chief Police Officers telling Parliament in March that “We are not enforcing 20mph speed limits at this moment in time”.

Does Boris want Heathrow to close?

The lobbyists for a third runway at Heathrow Airport have been raising the stakes. They say that if we had a Thames Estuary Airport instead - "Boris Island" - then Heathrow Airport would not be viable. It would have to close altogether. Over 60,000 jobs would be lost.

I was interested to see the Mayor of London Boris Johnson's response to this. At a recent London Assembly Mayor's Questions, the Conservative London Assembly member Tony Arbour was trying to be helpful:

Tony Arbour (AM):  Do you not think it scandalous and outrageous, Mr Mayor, that Heathrow has recently issued a statement suggesting that Heathrow is going to be closed and there will therefore be devastation right across west London unequalled since the Luftwaffe?  Do you not think that it needs to be said loudly and clearly that it has never been your intention or indeed the intention of those people who live near the airport and who are the principal protesters that Heathrow should go? What we and you have been advocating is that there be additional aircraft capacity possibly in the Thames Estuary which will take most of the traffic which goes to Heathrow but Heathrow in itself will continue to be an economic driver for west London.

What tonight's Panorama won't tell you about the Bagley's Lane Box Junction

Councils have a balance in treating motorists fairly with maintaining traffic flow and not stinging motorists with excessive charges. If there was no enforcement then traffic would grind to halt in congested London boroughs like mine. On the other hand councils seeking to "catch people out" as a money spinner is quite wrong. Councils who spray out Penalty Charge Notices as a covert tax over some technicality where motorists are doing no harm shuld certainly be held to account.

My council of Hammersmith and Fulham copes with a huge volume of traffic. Panorama tonight suggests we get the balance wrong. That we issue too many PCNs in general. That in particular we issue too many PCNs for motorists blocking the box junction at Bagley's Lane and the New Kings Road when there is a red light.

Given the BBC's impeccable credentials for impartiality as a public service broadcaster they may include the following points in this evening's broadcast:

Ban the tube strikes

Richard Tracey, the Conservative Transport Lead on the London Assembly, wants a vote in Parliament on banning tube strikes so we can see which MPs stand up for Londoners

When did Bob Crow, the General Secretary of the RMT Union, last compare you to Hitler? For me and my Conservative colleagues on the London Assembly the answer is 'last Monday' when we released ‘Struck Out’, a report suggesting an alternative to strike action on the London Underground. 'Struck Out' makes the case for Parliament to pass legislation banning strike action on the Tube. In return transport unions would gain the right to binding pendulum arbitration if 50%+1 of their Members voted to take a dispute to that stage. The report finds that 59% of Londoners believe it is too easy to strike with only 14% believing that it’s too difficult.

Binding Pendulum Arbitration (BPA) would entail an independent arbiter choosing between two competing positions. So if Transport for London (TfL) calls for a pay freeze for Tube workers and the RMT want a 10% increase the arbiter would have to decide between those options. He cannot suggest a compromise. The result of this is that both parties have an incentive to be reasonable. Under BPA, calling for a ridiculous wage increase is not shrewd negotiating; it is simply a way of ensuring your opponent wins.

The current system - allowing a few unions to exploit their monopolistic position to squeeze ever more money out of London fare-payers and taxpayers by almost constantly threatening strike action - effectively encourages extremism. The unions who aim for the highest possible pay increases for their Members are likely to end up being most successful irrespective of the cost to ordinary Londoners.

Worcestershire County Council are right to encourage residents to report potholes

 

Councils spend £100 million a year filling two million potholes according to the latest asphalt industry survey. Weather means the spending varies from year to year but really spending money on potholes is a consequence of councils failing to surface road adequately.

Yet if there are potholes it is helpful for residents to report them, and highways staff to fix them, as soon as possible. Potholes are a threat to road safety and damage vehicles. Taking the trouble to report them is part of the Big Society. So congratulations to Worcestershire County Council on this amusing, low cost video, which encourages their residents to do just that.

In 2010/11 Worcestershire County Council had 524 claims from residents for damage to their cars due to the poor state of the roads. In 2011/12 it was 144. That indicates the council is making some progress.