Proposed changes to parking charges in the Bradford district are so stingy they could have been written by Ebeneezer Scrooge – a Councillor has claimed.
Ilkley Councillor Andrew Loy was pointing out that potential shake up of parking charges, which include the scrapping of free parking on bank holidays, could see people forced to pay to park outside church on Christmas Day.
The controversial parking changes were raised at a meeting of Bradford Council on Tuesday – when members heard that a petition against parking charges in Ilkley had been signed by over 1,500 people.
In Ilkley the changes will see the removal of the one-hour free street parking, as well as increasing charging until 8pm (from 6pm), inclusive of bank holidays.
Charges will also rise in Bradford city centre – including charges to park on street at numerous locations on evenings.
A consultation on the changes recently ended, and will be decided in the near future.
The petition on the Ilkley charges was presented by local resident Richard Downing, who told Councillors the petition had been signed by 1,558 people.
He said the removal of the free parking would be “immensely damaging” for local businesses.
He told members:
“It helps people shop locally and make visits to doctors and post offices. Having to pay to visit shops for a few items will make it inconvenient to shop locally – footfall will be down and people will be drawn to retail parks.
“Many residents will stop visiting the town’s small businesses.
“Parishioners use the free hour to attend churches. It is especially perverse to think they might be charged to g to church on Christmas Day and Good Friday.
“Evening charges will deter people from visiting our theatres.”
He urged the council to scrap the proposed changes.
Councillor Alex Ross Shaw, Executive for regeneration, planning and transport, thanked petitioners, saying:
“We recognise the number of responses to the petition. We do recognise the strength of feeling.
“We’re looking at trying to find ways of managing the budget. Standardising parking charges is one way of doing this. I understand some people believe Ilkley is treated different from the rest of the District, and I do want to push back on that.
“Charges have been changed or implemented right across the District. People often feel when a change comes in ‘why my area?’ but often the changes are taking place in similar ways right across the District.”
He said there had been a considerable number of responses to the consultation, and that the final decision would be made by the Council’s Executive.
Councillor Andrew Loy (Cons, Ilkley) said:
“Many people in Ilkley and Ben Rhydding have become very cynical of Council consultations in the last few years.
“People want to support local businesses, but it you make it harder for them by removing the free hour they’ll soon shop elsewhere or online. Instead of visiting one of our independent coffee shops, perhaps they’ll visit the new Starbucks at the edge of town.”
Referring the evening charges, he said:
“This will deal a blow to our restaurants, bars and venues like Ilkley Playhouse, Ilkley Cinema and Kings Hall.
“The charges will unfairly impact certain groups of people. They include the elderly, less mobile, parents dropping off children at school and parishioners of churches who rely on on-street parking to attend their local church services.
“How is it fair that they might face a parking fine for parking outside their church on Christmas Day?
“It’s like Ebeneezer Scrooge is writing the Council’s parking policy.”
He said the charges would “pose a real threat to Ilkley’s economy.”
He asked Council bosses to meet residents half way if they were not willing to entirely scrap the plans, saying the authority could offer half an hour free parking, or scrap bank holiday charging.
Referring to claims the Council had already made up its mind, Cllr Loy said “Scrapping the plans would give the Council a chance to prove them wrong.”
Councillor Jeanette Sunderland (Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley) pointed out that charges were recently introduced in Idle – to much controversy. She said:
“If people have to pay they will just pop to the supermarket, and while they are there will probably buy the things they could have bought from local businesses in the town.
“It’s like the Council has a policy of pushing those quick, in and out shoppers away to the supermarkets driving the card shops, flower, shops, fruit shops, butchers, bakers and candle makers out of business.”
Members voted for the petition to go to a future meeting of the Council’s Executive.
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