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Town councils could run car parks
TOWN councils could take over the running of some car parks in the East Riding under proposals to solve a row over the introduction of charging.
East Riding Council's car parking review panel had recommended introducing fees at 20 free car parks as part of a bid to establish an authority-wide car parking policy for the first time since the council was launched 13 years ago.
The plans, which would affect sites in Anlaby, Cottingham, Hedon, Hessle, Pocklington, Stamford Bridge and Willerby, are strongly opposed by the East Riding's three MPs, the Federation of Small Businesses and some town councils and residents.
But ahead of a three-month public consultation exercise beginning next month, the panel's chairman said the economic downturn had given the authority pause for thought – and it may consider leasing the car parks to smaller councils or community groups.
Coun Felicity Temple said: "The recession made us draw breath. I still think our proposals were the most sensible way we have come up with of trying to balance the budget.
"But the last thing we want to do is put any businesses in jeopardy. We are definitely open to offers – there's no point having a consultation if you are not open to offers.
"We are trying to explain where we are coming from and we want people to think about how we can achieve our goals by different methods.
"Either everybody pays through council tax, the local community might pay or the user pays.
"We have been focusing on the user paying because we thought that was the fairest way.
"If local communities are anxious and want to look at a community covering genuine costs we would be happy to look at that, but it would have to be based on best market value."
The panel said it wanted to create a "fair and workable" system that would see four bands of charging introduced and charging removed at 14 of the least-used car parks.
The proposals would see free parking remain in the selected zones for the first 30 minutes, then 50p for the first hour, rising to 70p an hour for long-term parking.
Provisional figures suggest the net income to the council would be about 8,500 to 9,000 in the first year.
Although this is relatively low, the panel said it would contribute towards spending on other hard-pressed services.
The cost to the council of maintaining car parks last year was 1.74m, and it has also had to find an extra 485,000 this year to pay for extra gritting because of the harsh winter.
Conservative MPs David Davis, Greg Knight and Graham Stuart wrote a joint letter urging the council to abandon its plans, which they said could cause "severe damage" to the social fabric of local communities.
A petition against the charges has also gathered 25,000 signatures.
Coun Temple said: "I know there are a lot of petitions but that's just people saying we don't want them (the charges). But we've got to break even.
"Why should a great swathe of the county who have had free parking be supported by people in Goole, Hornsea and Bridlington, which are not the wealthiest areas?"
The council will stage nine roadshows detailing the proposals, which begin at Beverley Memorial Hall on April 2, from 4.30pm to 7pm.
People can also give their views online at www.eastriding.gov.uk from the same date.
The panel will study the findings and make further recommendations before any decision is made.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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