I was very disappointed in the quality of BBC Radio Suffolk’s coverage of Babergh’s proposal to introduce limited charging for car parking in Hadleigh and Sudbury.
It was not made clear that the idea is to introduce a charge of £1 50 per day for people staying more than three hours. People who park for less time, to go shopping for example, will still not have to pay.
Nick Ridley, Chairman of the Strategy Committee, speaking later, made this point well, but the initial impression given was very one sided.
It is clearly right to keep short term parking free for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is unfair to introduce such charges in the town centre when supermarket car parks continue to be free. Secondly Sudbury certainly needs all the help it can get to maintain the vibrancy of the town centre in competition with the larger centres such as Colchester and Bury. This will be true I think even when the recession is past.
As far as the proposed long term charges are concerned, while they are regrettable, I fear that they may be unavoidable. To raise the same amount of money by increasing Council Tax is simply not an option. This is only one proposal out of many that are being taken in order to bridge the funding gap the council faces. Every one of these proposals will be painful for someone.
A correspondent has raised the fact that the measures will be a problem for people who go to London overnight and cannot get back to put another sticker on their car. In fact the way things will work, I believe, is that they will have a three hour grace period the next day, but I am not sure of this.
This is just one of very many potential unintended consequences that will inevitably arise from the new charges. I hope that Babergh will have learnt from mistakes that were made when ticket machines were installed in the short term car parks last year, and react swiftly to address any problems.
