County Councillor Chris Bray spoke out against any increase in on-street parking charges in Teignmouth at the HATOC meeting in Newton Abbot held on the 7th March. Despite his appeal, other Councillors, from both County and District, agreed an increase, but less than that recommended by the officers. The finally agreed charges see an increase in Teignmouth, for half an hour, from a 30 pence minimum charge, to 40 pence and for an increase, for an hour, from 60 pence to 80 pence. The recommendation before councillors was for a minimum charge of 50 pence. Opposing the recommendation Chris said, “I think that the vast majority of us present in the chamber today subscribe to the principles which have in the past been agreed between Teignbridge and Devon Councils, namely that there should be comparability between on and off street parking with a level of charges set to encourage those seeking parking, to, first of all, go to an off street car park. However, this is an agreement and a partnership between DCC and the local District Council.For this to work it has to be a two-way street, with negotiations between the parties as to what are appropriate charges. There are very good reasons relating to the Government’s clear underfunding of the National Free Bus Pass for the over 60s scheme, that have forced Teignbridge to raise their charges yet again this year. In fact, if I were a Teignbridge Councillor I would undoubtedly have voted in favour of the increase in Teignbridge because they were faced with no real alternative. (As a side thought, the whole bus pass funding issue could be resolved by the Government agreeing to fund real costs, retrospectively) However, we are in a situation where yet again Teignbridge have raised their charges and we are once again being invited to play “catch up.” We are being asked to increase the charges for thirty minutes in Teignmouth, from 30pence to 50pence, an increase of 66%. I am sorry, I am not going to be voting for that, when, only three years ago, Teignmouth residents were paying 10 pence for 20 minutes. And there is another issue Chairman, you have before you a list of towns and cities in
Devon whose residents at present do and do not pay for on street car parking In blue, is a list of towns which presently charge for on-street parking, including as you will see, Teignmouth, Dawlish and Newton Abbot. In red, you will see a list of towns which presently DO NOT charge for on-street parking, including the coastal towns of Kingsbridge and Seaton, who do not pay, whilst Teignmouth and Dawlish do and also relatively large communities like Ivybridge, Tavistock and Tiverton who do not, whilst Newton Abbot does. You will observe, Chairman, that there are a large number of communities that presently do not pay on-street parking charges and the question needs to be put, with the advent of Civil Parking Enforcement in May of this year on a County wide basis, shouldn’t there be greater equity across Devon? I believe there does indeed have to be equity across the County. Why should the residents of Teignmouth be paying into the fund for the new civil parking enforcement officers, whilst the people of Ilfracombe do not. So, Chair, to sum up, I oppose this increase firstly, because I believe it to be excessive and not negotiated with the District Council and secondly, because I believe that until we get equity across the County, with all communities paying parking fees fairly, we should hold our charges until other communities pay their fair share.” Chris was subsequently told that there was an understanding by DCC that there should be more equity and that plans were being developed that over the next few years other communities across other Districts of Devon would indeed start to pay, in the way that those in Teignbridge did now. The HATOC committee is a joint DCC and TDC committee which annually sets the fees for the following year. Over a long period there has been an attempt by DCC to match its rates with that of Teignbridge, so as to encourage those seeking parking to use car parks rather than drive around towns seeking parking spaces.
March 8th, 2008
in
News |
1 Comment
have your say
Add your comment
[…] 7th March. Despite his appeal, other Councillors, from both County and District, agreed an increase,http://chrisbray.mycouncillor.org.uk/2008/03/08/chris-bray-opposes-any-increase-in-parking-charges/Tavistock, Devon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThe biggest event in the town&39s calendar is the […]