A LEADING motoring organisation
has condemned
moves by Southampton City
Council to charge residents
to park outside their homes.
City council leaders agreed the controversial
policy to start charging for first
permits without guaranteeing space.
The charging policy has sparked outrage
from residents and led to the Daily
Echo's Parking Mad campaign demanding
a U-turn.
Now a survey has revealed other
Hampshire authorities that run large
scale free residents parking schemes are
resisting the move.
Hugh Bladon, a spokesman for The
Association for British Drivers said: "If
you pay council tax for a property you
should be entitled
to a permit to park
your car on the
road.
"I don't see why
anybody should
be made to pay for
a permit. You
don't get much for
council tax as it is.
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"If somebody
asked me to pay
for a permit I
would be furious."
Southampton's
joint Labour and
Lib Dem administration
has ruled
out bringing in
new charges for at
least 12 months
but have refused
to scrap the policy.
They want to
make the residents
parking
scheme "self-funding".
A spokesman for
Portsmouth City
Council said it initially
charged for
permits for its residents
parking
scheme when
introduced in 1999. But it ditched the
charges as the scheme expanded and
they proved unpopular.
"When we started to spread it around
the city it was clear it wasn't going to
work that way," the spokesman said.
"We asked residents and that's what
they wanted."
The spokesman said there were no
plans to introduce charges for first permits,
although
second permits
cost £50.
E a s t l e i g h
B o r o u g h
Council, whose
25-year-old residents
parking
scheme now covers
4,000 homes,
also gives free
first permits.
"We recognise
that many households
in
Eastleigh may
need a car to get
around and to
work and don't
penalise them for
that," a
spokesman said.
He added a £30
charge for a second
permitted
was intended to
reflect administration
costs and
encourage the
use of public
transport.
Councils in the
New Forest and
Fareham that
charge for all
permits operate limited schemes.
Winchester started charging for permits
when it launched its scheme in
response to the problem of student parking.
Belinda Rounce,
marketing assistant,
24, of
Liverpool Street,
Southampton is
angry at the parking
policy: "I
already pay council
tax and road tax so
I don't really see
why I should have
to pay to park outside
my own home.
"It's all right for
people with
garages who can
get round it, but we
don't have that
option. Quite often
there's nowhere to
park on our road
anyway, so why
should we have to
pay for a space that
might not even
exist?
"I don't mind paying
for the second
one because I can
understand the
problems of having
multiple cars but
having to pay for
one is ridiculous.
"They should
ditch the policy and
not just put it off for
a year to keep people
happy."
Belinda is absolutely right - it's a disgrace and just one more example of the Council fleecing its own residents to bring in more money. I remember when the parking permit system was first suggested and we all had to vote on the idea. It was put forward as [bold]USER FRIENDLY!![/bold] I don't see much sign of User Friendly here!
Thumbs down.
Belinda is absolutely right - it's a disgrace and just one more example of the Council fleecing its own residents to bring in more money. I remember when the parking permit system was first suggested and we all had to vote on the idea. It was put forward as USER FRIENDLY!! I don't see much sign of User Friendly here!
Thumbs down.
This is typical of deceitful councils, they hold a survey that conveniently neglects to mention any cost, then try to claim that residents are in favour of being ripped off! I thought councils were supposed to protect the public against such rogues. Who votes for these clowns anyway?
This is typical of deceitful councils, they hold a survey that conveniently neglects to mention any cost, then try to claim that residents are in favour of being ripped off! I thought councils were supposed to protect the public against such rogues. Who votes for these clowns anyway?
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