Ever seen a traffic warden armed with a litter spike? Neither have we, but with the ever-vigilant Westminster council turning their beady eye on themselves in the wake of government cost-cutting, you just never know what might be hiding around the corner, especially as Westminster have grasped an opportunity to propose plugging the financial gaps through reducing waste collection costs by a rather large 80% at the same time as increasing the number of traffic wardens by 25%.
Clearly taking to heart the maxim that you have to speculate to accumulate, Westminster are looking at spending £2m to achieve their desired traffic warden quota but at the same time as proposing job losses and other cuts. They're not at all squeamish about biting the hand that feeds either - they binned free evening parking earlier this year, took on the biker community and asked to be allowed to pursue overseas-based owners of supercars to recover unpaid parking fines. But the move to boost revenue from parking charges and fines at the same time as reducing costs by cutting back on cleaning probably isn't going to endear Westminster to anyone as it'll affect residents, local workers, visitors, motorists and pedestrians alike - and further demonstrates that the council really do view parking enforcement as a cash cow rather than a preventative measure.
Street cleaning in other boroughs was also earmarked for cuts back in the summer when the government spending review first hit the headlines, jarring somewhat with the various initiatives to make London a cleaner place. With litter bins being cut by as much as 50%, will Westminster be able to hold onto their status as the fourth cleanest borough in London while retaining their place at the top of the charts for the highest amount of cash raised from parking tickets?
