London's Baby Tax

I think I have mentioned before that I used to be a resident of Hammersmith & Fulham council before it went blue.

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, West London's main maternity unit, is inside the extended zone whereas most of its catchment area: Hammersmith & Fulham is not. Councillors from the borough are joining with the West London Residents Association in a go-slow protest on Saturday (17th February 2006) against the extension. This is an 11th hour attempt to force the Mayor of London to reconsider implementing the scheme.

Cllr Nick Botterill, Cabinet Member responsible for Transport, said:

"This scheme is cutting residents off from vital services, of which maternity units are just one example. Do we really expect women in labour to jump on a bus? And should they really be fined if they forget to pay the charge whilst in labour? The Mayor of London should call a halt to this costly, unnecessary and damaging tax on West Londoners."

And to link to the previous post about media bias, and whilst we're talking about Hammersmith & Fulham, I'd like to point readers to this excellent post by one of my favourite blogging councillors, Cllr Paul Bristow. He's quite right that the BBC should be ashamed of themselves.