Tories have got it wrong about parking

READING & DISTRICT LABOUR PARTY MEDIA RELEASE
30 April 2010
Labour: “Reading’s Tories have got it plain wrong about parking”
The claim by Reading Tories that Labour intends to double the charge for a second parking permit after the election, which they have made both in a press release and in a leaflet distributed to voters, is based on a leaked officer report the recommendations of which were rejected by the Labour Group, and Labour’s Councillor Tony Page, Lead Councillor for Strategic Planning & Transport, is demanding that the press release and the leaflet be withdrawn.
“When you run a Council,” Cllr. Page explains, “you ask professional officers for advice and options, not all of which are accepted. The Tories have got hold of an early paper prepared by Council officers containing options for changes to the residents parking scheme. At our meeting on 25 January, the Labour Group firmly rejected the officers’ proposal for a £100 charge for second permits.
“The Labour Group decided instead that, for the public consultation to be carried out over the summer, a sliding scale should be based around the current charge of £55 for second permits, with discounts offered for low emission vehicles.
“The principles of that consultation were approved at Cabinet in February, without any challenge from Tories or Liberals. We will be asking questions such as: If a household has off-street parking is it fair that they should also be entitled to the same number of permits as houses without any off-street? And should we merge some zones with spare capacity with areas where residents parking is oversubscribed?
“It’s been Reading’s Labour Council that has promoted and extended residents’ parking schemes over many years, and any changes will be made only after full consultation with local residents, but this attack by the Tories, based on a leaked document the status of which they didn’t bother to check, just hides their own lack of principle and lack of ideas. Their leaflet is a lie and should be withdrawn.
“And I would challenge Reading’s Tories further to stop pretending there’s unlimited parking available for all residents, stop deliberately misleading people, and for once come clean about your own proposals. They have talked at Scrutiny and other meetings about charges for first permits and about removing areas of residents’ only parking so that people from out of town can park free and avoid parking charges, but have not had the honesty to share those ideas with voters.