Free parking in Plymouth city centre rejected
The council’s car parking income is already down by £4.8 million due to the pandemic
Plymouth Tories denied claims that their proposal to provide free parking in the city centre was a “cheap political gimmick”.
Conservative councillors put forward the scheme at a meeting of the Labour controlled city council, and it was rejected by 30 votes to 24.
Conservative group deputy leader Patrick Nicholson proposed waiving parking charges in December and January to encourage shoppers in what he described as a “short-term radical” measure.
He said that the city centre was facing problems even before the Covid pandemic, which was having a “massive impact”, and removing the parking fees would send out a signal that Plymouth was “open for business”.
The councillor said: “It’s imperative that we as a city council do everything we can, within our own powers, to try and assist the city centre, both at the current time, but also post the current lockdown.”
But Labour’s Cabinet member for finance Mark Lowry, who is also responsible for the city centre, said no business had asked for free parking.
They wanted support to get them online and investment in the city centre, which the council was providing.
Cllr Lowry said of the Conservative proposal: “This is just a cheap gimmick to grab a headline.”
Conservative group leader Nick Kelly later denied the claim that the proposal was intended to score cheap points and make headlines.
Cllr Lowry warned that the council’s car parking income was down by £4.8 million due to the pandemic, and the compensation on offer from the Government was 71p for every pound lost.