Car parking debate continues

Yesterday’s Council Meeting at Babergh was an action packed affair.
Things got off to a rather sticky start however, and Councillors became rather grumpy as a result. This was because a paper aiming to improve the flow of information that Councillors receive about what is going on in their Wards was followed by another item which immediately highlighted the nature of this problem of communication. It appeared that a number of Members were entirely innocent of affordable housing proposals in their areas. These can be rather controversial schemes, so the irritation expressed was understandable. I am pleased to report however that Colin and I are aware of any schemes that are planned in Waldingfield Ward! (at least we think we are).
We then moved swiftly on to the issue of the Council’s difficult financial situation, about which I wrote last week. We were asked to consider the paper, already discussed by Strategy , in which an approach to setting the budget for the 2010/11 financial year was set out.
After a good deal of argy bargy, and despite the clear wish of many of the ‘powers that be’ to avoid it, an amendment was finally tabled that was aimed at removing the vexed issue of car parking charges from consideration by the SFP, the Committee that does the detailed work on the budget. This would have effectively put this matter to bed for the time being. By the time this happened however the assembled Councillors had been so cowed by threats of what might happen to them and to Babergh if they could not produce a credible budget that only the really die hard opponents of Car Parking Charges were prepared to support the amendment. A subsequent amendment was tabled by Martin Booth. He, like me, is very keen to make sure that if car parking charges ARE introduced in Sudbury, then arrangements for residents and others are fair and sensible. His amendment sought to ensure that the investigation by the Committee went beyond the purely financial issues and fully considered other consequences of the changes . The possibility of handing over the management (and the cost) of the carparks to Sudbury and Hadleigh Town Councils is also to be considered.
The budget, including the issue of car parking, will be fully debated at the December Council meeting (15th December) and nothing will be finally decided until that date. Further discussion could continue until February.
It is certain that hard choices are going to have to be made to make the books balance, and, in my view, it is right that nothing, however unpalatable, should be ruled out at present.