If it moves, tax it is supposed to be a tongue in cheek remark, but someone at the Canterbury City Council took it literally by imposing £16 walking permit on people who accessed their homes through a car park:
The council compulsory purchased land to the rear of Cromwell Road, Whitstable, in 1995. It then turned it into what is now known as Bisson’s Car Park. Residents who enter the car park to access the rear of their homes received letters from the council informing them if they wanted to continue doing so they would have to pay for it. Amazingly, someone thought it was a good wheeze to attempt to charge local residents £16 a year for a pedestrian licence; £122 a year for a vehicle licence; get everyone to sign a 13-clause licence agreement; and on top of that require each household to purchase £2 million worth of public liability insurance. . .
Not surprisingly residents weren’t amused and let the council know.
It responded:
. . . Our intention was to regularise existing access to the rear of their properties by granting access licences across the residents’ car park.
However, concerns have been expressed about the proposal so we are going to pause and take time to discuss the situation with them to allow us to find a way forward that meets the needs of all parties. . .
Any utterance which includes the words regularise, find a way forward and meets the needs of all parties in a single sentence should be regarded with extreme caution.
But in this case I think it means they know they’ve got it wrong and are trying to get it right.
And, perhaps—focus on the ChCh rebuild? Ah, too much to ask–