Borough's Parking Team Gets Going

The first meeting of the council's Parking Strategy Group has taken place and terms of reference are being compiled.

Lib Dems have long criticised the borough council for the absence of a policy toward parking. The plans are for the three borough councillors who attended a meeting on Friday 9th October, to get together with three county councillors during December and work toward producing a strategy document and action plan for the future. Cllr Julie Morris is part of the borough group, along with two councillors from the Residents' Party. Cllr Colin Taylor will be part of the county group.

Cllr Morris reports from the first meeting of the borough group that "there's general acknowledgement that we have to do something to resolve the conflict between commuter parking and residents parking. Whether or not this is the creation of a residents' parking scheme remains to be seen, but the borough's new parking manager comes with experience of such a scheme which will be invaluable to the new group."

A meeting of all six councillors is being organised for December. The strategy document could be some 20 pages long but will have an action plan as part of it. Public consultation will be required before the document is formally adopted. A timescale for implementation of the strategy will need laying down, but the all important question is finance. Cllr Morris says "the needs of residents, commuters and businesses have to be balanced, the needs of the borough council in terms of its budgeted income from car parking has to be taken into account, but just which body will fund any changes which may be required is likely to be the most tricky aspect."

Keep a watch on this site to see how the Lib Dems are working toward resolving parking issues.