Key question for new leader should be answered now

Colin Barrow's abrupt resignation at the weekend has left huge confusion over Westminster's proposed evening and Sunday West End parking charges.

His successor will now have to clear up the mess and bring common sense and sanity back to the council's parking policies.

Unfortunately Mr Barrow has not made his successor's job any easier by refusing to call for an immediate halt to the plans. We now have the worst of all worlds in which the council has lost a leader, but he is claiming that nothing has changed. This means that the first question his successor will have to answer is: "Do you support Councillor Barrow's parking plans for the West End?"

Labour has tabled a motion for the city council's meeting on January 25 that would end the uncertainty. It recommends that the cabinet "withdraws its plans to introduce evening and Sunday parking charges in the West End in September 2012 because of the huge damage that this will do to the West End economy, including the potential loss of over 5,000 jobs". I urge the four candidates to succeed Colin Barrow - Philippa Roe, Ed Argar, Jonathan Glanz and Brian Connell - to support the motion and scrap the proposed charges and the loss of over 8,400 parking spaces on single yellow lines.

We also need more honesty and transparency from the new leader. The council has claimed that their own efficiency has enabled them to keep council tax low. But it has disguised the fact that they have only been able to do so because of the huge revenues they are bringing in from parking.

The council now has the opportunity to draw a line under this episode. It should be taken with both hands so that we can put the parking arguments behind us and move on.

Paul Dimoldenberg is Labour group leader on Westminster council