Letter: More on MiPermit parking in Newham

Morag Cuthbert, East Ham, full address supplied, writes:

I am writing to express my deep dissatisfaction with the new Newham parking arrangements.

I was not aware of the consultation on these arrangements or I would have objected at the time.

Indeed, it seems from the number of objections that I now find were made, that very few people were aware.

I only discovered it when renewing my resident’s permit.

I do not actually object to the emissions charge included in the parking permit.

I recognise that emissions are a serious problem which everyone will have to address.

I can also accept having to renew my resident’s permit online. That is not new.

My objection is to the new MiPermit system being paper free for visitors’ permits.

There only seems to have been one objection.

Again, I suspect this was because people were either not aware of the consultation, or did not realise that the visitors’ permits would be paper free under the new scheme.

Applying for a visitor's parking permit on Newham Council's website is confusing according to Morag Cuthbert (Image: Archant)

The confusing online and app scheme might prevent any visitors at all.

While ideally we would cut car use within the borough, it is unfair to prevent people from having visitors because they are unable to deal with the complexities of this system.

The beauty of the paper parking permits was that anyone in a household could simply hand a permit to a visitor, expected or unexpected.

The new system requires a degree of forward planning that is just not always possible.

I have spent some time looking at the instructions for the visitor parking permits today.

I am well educated and reasonably computer literate, but I am not sure I am going to be able to deal with them.

The Newham website says “people at the heart of everything we do”.

This new scheme ignores the people of the borough.