WARRINGTON Borough Council has responded to a 5,000 name petition calling for more free parking in the south of the borough – by scrapping free parking altogether.
The decision has infuriated people from Stockton Heath and Lymm who believe that parking charges are stifling business in both villages.And the opposition Liberal Democrat group on the council has accused the council of potentially breaking the law.
They claim the new proposals will make matters worse, not better, for shoppers in Stockton Heath and Lymm.
The borough council originally infuriated residents and shopkeepers by scrapping a two-hour free parking period on its pay-and-display car park and replacing it with a one-hour free period.
They introduced a 50p charge for a two-hour period.
Residents claimed this ended the opportunity of a relaxing visit to either Lymm or Stockton Heath to do shopping and, perhaps, enjoy a coffee in one of the cafes.
The borough’s solution was to scrap free parking altogether and introduce a 30p charge for up to two hours.
Lib Dem Highways spokesman Cllr Brian Axcell (right) said, “Labour claims it is listening to residents and traders. But if this were really the case, they would restore two hours free parking, not take away free parking completely.
“Charging 30p for the first hour will either act as a disincentive to visit Stockton Heath and Lymm or encourage drivers to park on the streets making matters worse.
“It does nothing for the ‘fairness’ argument whereby no charges are levied on other district car parks in the borough. It’s not the level of the 30p charge but the principle of being charged at all that people object to.”
Lib Dem Council leader, Cllr Ian Marks added “They have definitely got this wrong. They should have listened to local councillors, residents and traders right at the start instead of digging themselves into a deeper hole.”
The Liberal Democrats have challenged the ruling Labour group on the borough council for potentially acting illegally on parking charges following a High Court ruling against Barnet Council.
Cllr Axcell said: “I have written to senior council officers asking for the two hour free parking to be reinstated until the result of the appeal by Barnet Council against the Court ruling is known.
“If the ruling is upheld on appeal then it seems to me crystal clear that Warrington Council has acted unlawfully.”
In Barnet a group of local residents led by a local solicitor challenged the increased costs of a parking permit scheme which they argued were not needed because the permit scheme was already in surplus. The group also said the price increases were “unfairly” loaded on a small proportion of the borough.
At the High Court Mrs Justice Lang said that the 1984 Road Traffic Regulation Act “is not a fiscal measure and does not authorise the authority to use its powers to charge local residents for parking in order to raise surplus revenue for other transport purposes”.
Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “This is fantastic news for drivers. This decision should never have been in any doubt. The law is explicit – parking charges are about managing congestion, not raising revenue.”
Cllr Axcell added: “We argue that these car parks in the south of the town already make a profit and the new charges are just about income generation and that other district car parks in the town are not subject to charges which is unfair. This seems to match the Barnet case pretty closely.
“Also Brandon Lewis, Minister for Local Government, has said, ‘This Government has been very clear that parking charges are not, and should not be, a town hall stealth tax on local residents. We have scrapped the Labour Government’s guidance, which pressured councils to hike up parking charges’”.
The council says it has made its decision after “listening to the people” and believes the 30p charge is a reasonable compromise.
Council scraps free parking in the south – but could they now be breaking the law?
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Additional charges like this seem to be for no obvious reason other than to raise money. If people are unable to park free of charge in the car park for a short time, they will choose to park on the road which will then become impossible to negotiate easily (as is the case on West Avenue at present). The logical aim should be to have as many people park in the car parks as possible to leave the roads clear. Or am I missing something?
bring back the chap in the brown coat sat in a wooden shed – and pay up when you leave.
everyone should pay to use a car park – but not to raise money for the Council -just to raise money to keep your car safe and the car park clean and tidy!
Silverlady. What they’ll choose to do is go somewhere else or spend less time shopping, eating or drinking with local businesses. Once the local shops start to visibly suffer, the council will then try to encourage people back to Stockton Heath with planters. They never learn anything or think about anything and they certainly don’t listen to anybody.
I’ve said before and I’ll say it again. It’s well past time the Cheshire villages told Lancastrian Warrington to bu**er off back north of the water and stop treating us as cash cows to subsidise the rest of the borough.
well just vote them out at the next election…. every damned useless one of them.
I guess everyone is happy with very low council tax increases?
Councils have to raise revenue to keep services going, and this is one of the ways they will do it.
Unfortunately it’s not a legitimate way for them to raise revenue as the Government has told them. Not only that it causes other problems with parking and will adversely affect local businesses. The fact that the council is doing it in those car parks that are already generating a surplus tells you all you need to know. They seriously won’t stop until the village centres are dead zones like the town centre. They are insane.
If only. We don’t get to vote for the council officers who make the actual decisions. We have no way at all of holding them to account. Most of the time we don’t even get to know the name of the individual responsible for a decision.