Thursday night was the Budget and Performance meeting,chaired by Cllr Brian Coleman. unlike the last, this was a very low key affair, with only one item on the agenda of real interest. The Q1performance report. It's a pointless report, as we are in a position to know what Q2 will be like.
There were some issues which Cllr Alan Schneiderman and Cllr Alison Moore were able to pick up on. The parking revenue account has been badly hit this year. Apparently by the "recession". I know Skyfall is out, but it doesn't take James Bond to decode that one! Clouseau would do. Alan managed to find out that the changeover to NSL had some big teething problems to do with enforcement. Despite being the same staff, just employed by a different organisation. Well anyways, it's been Ironed out, and there is a parking recovery plan, and we have asked to see it.
My main contribution was to ask about the revenue targets. there are apparently no targets for the number of Penalty Charge Notices, but they budget for the revenue. I suppose we haven't moved on much from the days of King Henry VII and charges for this and that. God knows what he would have done with parking tickets!
Alison also made a useful point about getting experts in to advise on what to look for when scrutinizing the One Barnet contracts.
We also had a report from property services. They gave us the list of Assets for sale! I have been battling for a month to get this. You could have drowned a fish and I would have been less surprised to see it.
