Anger over street car parking fees plan
PROPOSALS to introduce parking charges on Ormskirk’s streets have been met with anger by residents and politicians.
Lancashire County Council will soon begin a consultation on a plan to install pay and display machines into more towns to raise an additional £2m a year.
If approved, it will take the total number of chargeable parking spaces in the county from 190 to 560, and will also affect towns including Lytham and Chorley.
The proposals have been met with condemnation from those within the affected towns, a reaction with peaked when a petition signed by more than 2,500 people was handed to county council leader Geoff Driver.
The petition was presented to him during a discussion about a wider £77m package of budget reductions and caused a heated stand-off which resulted in the meeting being adjourned briefly.
Cllr Driver has said the extra income was essential to ensure that vital services can continue to be provided, but unhappiness surrounds the proposals.
As in other areas of the county, the proposals have caused unrest in Ormskirk and come at a time when West Lancs Borough Council (WLBC) has recently changed the tariffs of its car parks in an attempt to attract more visitors to the town centre.
While WLBC controls charges at the off-road car parks it owns, on-street charges would be entirely decided by the county council.
Cllr Adrian Owens, who represents the town on the borough council, said the county council needed to “devote more time and energy to dealing with the numerous yellow line infringements in the town, rather than penalising drivers who park legitimately and safely at the roadside”.
Fellow Our West Lancashire representative Cllr Ian Davis added: “There’s no need to impose any further parking charges. Footfall in the town centre is already down this year.
“Adding further charges will frighten off both residents and visitors to our shops, cafes and restaurants.
“Instead, we should be giving free parking on certain days of the week to encourage shoppers, like other local towns such as Wigan. This move would benefit town businesses.”
Ormskirk resident Laura Caunce was also critical of the proposal, saying: “I think its an awful idea. Dangerous, inconvenient and illegal parking is already a huge problem for many in Ormskirk. Adding pay and display is only going to increase that, as people will refuse to park there and find somewhere else for free.
“The road I live on is already terrible for people parking, then going to get the train for work. They block us in our driveways [... and] if pay and display comes in to nearby streets then that issue will only get worse.”
Full details on where pay and display charges could be introduced are yet to be announced, but are expected to be made clear when the consultation is started.