Conservative council's parking tax shocker
January 19, 2009 11:00 PM
Local people have been stunned and outraged by plans for massive increases to parking charges in Burgess Hill, East Grinstead and Haywards Heath. The Conservatives running Mid Sussex District Council are planning to put car park charges up by 150% in next month's budget. This is being strongly opposed by Lib Dem councillors and campaigners.
"At a time when local businesses are struggling to make ends meet, and trade is down, the Conservatives want to make their job harder by putting parking charges through the roof!" says Bentswood campaigner, Irene Balls. Neighbouring Lewes District Council has not raised charges in its car parks for four years to support local traders.
Cllr Charlotte Jones with Irene Balls and Julia Brown at a Haywards Heath town centre car park that will be hit by the price hikes
The Conservative administration is aiming to raise an extra £700K by a massive rise in car parking charges.
Mid Sussex Parliamentary Spokesperson Serena Tierney said: "The Conservatives have tried this before. In 2002 they brought in a massive price rise in parking charges. The shops and car parks emptied and they had to do a U-turn months later. Local traders suffered from a drop in trade and local residents suffered from cars parking in residential streets. Now they are proposing to do the same thing again in the middle of a downturn. Don't they learn from their mistakes?"
Last year Mid Sussex Conservatives spent £140,000 installing new parking meters without consultation and were forced to issue a public apology after local residents and traders expressed outrage at the move. The meters left motorists facing long delays due to having to key in car registration details even if parking for just half an hour.
Now the Conservative council is proposing to increase charges and creating differential charges depending on which car park is used where some car parks will charge a minimum of £1. Just at a time when traders need all the help they can get, the council is proposing measures that could drive shoppers away. Worse, by installing the wrong type of parking meter, the Conservative's missed a golden opportunity to provide parking that encourages people to shop -i.e. paying on exit rather than rushing back to feed the meter, and could have installed meters that actually give change rather than swallowing £2 coins for a 60p ticket.
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