A FORMAL bid to scrap car parking charges across Northumberland has been rejected by councillors amid claims it would create traffic chaos in towns popular with tourists and visitors.
A Labour Party motion to retain free parking in towns such as Blyth and Ashington – and extend it to the rest of the county – was defeated at a special meeting of the unitary authority at County Hall.
The motion failed after Liberal Democrat councillors voted against it and Conservatives abstained – leaving the long-running row over parking fees to rumble on.
Labour group leader Grant Davey said free parking was affordable given the council’s massive budget. He said the loss of about £1.8m in income was a price worth paying as parking fees were destroying the county’s economy.
But the council’s Lib Dem leader, Jeff Reid, said introducing free parking county-wide was “a recipe for chaos”.
Coun Reid said: “If it is free then people who get on the bus at present will decide to take their cars instead and we could have chaos in towns like Berwick, Alnwick and Morpeth. They would simply fill up at peak times.”
The special meeting finally approved the council’s new parking strategy, which deals with issues such as civil enforcement of parking, permit concessions, disabled provision and residents’ parking schemes.
Now controversial decisions on whether to extend charges to south east Northumberland towns – where drivers currently park free – will be taken following discussions with local stakeholders about local traffic management issues.
There has been anger for years that parking charges apply in towns such as Berwick, Alnwick, Seahouses, Hexham and Morpeth but not in Ashington, Newbiggin, Bedlington, Blyth and Cramlington.
Recently, pressure from angry traders in Alnwick, Hexham and Morpeth ensured that the overall parking strategy had to be agreed by the full council and not just the Lib Dem executive.
Yesterday Coun Reid said decisions on whether to impose charges in other towns would be taken after the new strategy was applied to individual car parks and also as part of the budget process.
He said traffic management was a key consideration: “If there is no traffic management problem we won’t charge, but we are now going to have these discussions with traders and others to have all of this out. It is about what is the best management tool for each town.”
John Beynon, chairman of Morpeth and District Chamber of Trade, said effective traffic management could be achieved in tourist towns through time restrictions on parking, rather than charging motorists.
He said: “Our ultimate goal is to have free parking, but if we can’t have that then we need to have fairness across the county.
“The Lib Dems are trying to delay decisions by having consultations because they don’t want to introduce charges in south east Northumberland before the next council elections in 2013.
“However, they will do so after the elections. They are more interested in keeping power and that is so cynical.”
The council’s opposition Conservative leader, Peter Jackson, said his group wanted to see the Morpeth system of allowing local residents two-hour free parking periods at the start and end of each day extended throughout the county. Tories also support having free parking on Sundays and Bank Holidays.
He said: “Our strategy should have clear objectives and traffic management, access to local facilities and the needs of the local economy should be taken into account.”
