Liberal Democrats vote against Chesterfield Council Decision to increase Car Park Charges.
At the Cabinet meeting on Tues 18th Jan, Labour Cllrs voted to increase car park charges by more than inflation in order to take an extra £143,000 from Town Centre shoppers. Liberal Democrat Cllr Paul Holmes voted against this, telling Labour Cllrs that:
"The effects of Covid are not over yet even if things may soon start to ease. If we want the Town Centre to recover, then we should not be putting shoppers off with any increases this year - let alone such above inflation increases."
"Car park use fell during Covid as shoppers stayed away and lockdowns were in force -unless you were partying in Downing Street of course. Now extra competition from the new Glass Yard Centre opposite the Football Ground, is drawing businesses and shoppers away with lower rents and 2 hours free parking."
"On top of that there is the hit to everyone's pockets that is coming with the huge hike in energy costs and the Governments National Insurance Tax increase, plus the already ended £20 uplift in Universal Credit."
Paul adds,
"Labour Cllrs are quick to demand that 'the Government' should do this and 'the Government' should do that…. Well, it's time to put 'their' money where their mouth is. On the 16th December the Government announced the 2022/3 financial settlement for Councils. It was more generous than had been expected and CBC is receiving almost £1.4Million MORE than they had expected or planned for.
The Council could freeze Parking Charges, absorb the £143,000 extra they want to take from shoppers and still have more than £1.2 Million extra, unexpected cash in the bank."
"It's time to lead by example instead of just blaming everything on someone else and demanding that someone else take action."
Notes:
The lowest increase in charges is 6% on a stay of over 4 hours with a high of 12.5% on a half hour stay. The average increase is 7.5%.