New parking charges for Dorset labelled as 'bad idea' and 'wrong timing'
Councillors continue to criticise the plans.
Bad idea, wrong timing and with lack of consultation – sums up how some Dorset councillors feel about plans to impose new car parking charges.
The barrage of criticism has led portfolio brief holder Cllr Ray Bryan to suggest the idea might be ‘tweeked’ when it comes to Cabinet next week.
He promised there would now be a meeting to discuss the changes in light of the comments.
Many councillors at a meeting on Tuesday accepted the need to change some parking charges and accepted that Dorset Council will need to find around £3million it has lost in parking charges because of the pandemic.
The car parking income is directly used to support the road network and the help meet subsidy costs for some bus routes.
The main problem, for most councillors, was the decision to ‘immediately’ introduce charges from 6-8pm and to introduce Sunday charges across the council area, where they are not already in place.
Several said the changes would badly affect local businesses just as they were struggling to get back on their feet.
Some called for any change in charges to be delayed and considered in the New Year as part of a wider review of parking charges.
Cllr Nick Ireland, Lib Dem opposition group leader, said the justification for the changes was one of the worst he had ever heard – making some claims which he said could not be substantiated, lacking logic, and, in some areas, simply wrong.
He , and others, contested claims that the introduction of charges until 8pm would bring Dorset in line with neighbouring authorities. Several gave examples where, like Dorset at present, there are no evening charges after 6pm. He said an introduction of evening charges was more likely to see people simply park in residential areas, or go out later, to avoid the fees, undermining council claims about how much extra money the new fees would bring in.
Cllr Ireland also questioned the logic of having the same charging structure across Dorset. He said there was no justification for this: “This notion of one size fits all is not explained…it’s a complete nonsense.”
He said the evening and weekend charges would hit pubs and restaurant, just at the time when they needed all the support they could get.
Cllr Molly Rennie said Dorchester businesses did recognise the need for some changes, but said that now was not the time, just as the country was coming out of lockdown, a view shared by the majority of the Place and Resources scrutiny committee.
Brief holder Cllr Ray Bryan denied the changes were Conservative ideology, but were being made to have a common charging structure and at the same time increase income for highways and subsidy for public buses: “It’s down to basic common sense…residents won’t forgive us if we allow the roads to deteriorate…the job I have is to try and balance the books,” he said.
The issue will be discussed at the next Cabinet meeting on December 8th where the current recommendation is to approve the changes with immediate effect.