Spend the money on cleaning up our streets, not this vanity project

The cost of implementing the ticketless parking system has been criticised, with the council being urged to clean streets and deal with vandalism before splurging millions on a “vanity project”.

A total of £1.3 million has been budgeted for the technology, which will be funded largely from increased parking charges.

The extra money will also pay for £600,000 worth of city centre street improvements.

City councillor Nick EdenGreen says graffiti has been left so long in the “filthy and intimidating” underpass near Aldi, it is starting to peel off.

The Lib Dem councillor, who represents Wincheap, said:

“It strikes me that £2 million is a lot of money for a council on its financial knees that is apparently unable to undertake the simple housekeeping jobs of cleaning our streets and dealing with graffiti.

“For the sake of tourists, residents and shoppers alike can Canterbury City Council please get to grips with the basics first and spend a few hundred on housekeeping before they spend a couple of million on vanity projects?”