Paying to park outside home
RESIDENTS HIT OUT AT COUNCIL’S PLANS FOR PERMIT HIKE
FED up residents in North Tyneside have hit out at council bosses for increasing the cost of parking permits across the area.
The authority has sent out letters informing people that a number of changes will be introduced from this summer.
Under the current scheme, householders in a permit zone can get one parking voucher for free and passes for any additional cars at £20 each per year.
However, the planned changes will include a £25 annual charge for all resident permits – the first car will no longer be free.WeSo if your household has two cars, your costs would go up from £20 a year to £50 annually.
In addition, visitor permits – which are free at the moment – will cost £50 a year.
The council says the current cost to introduce, operate and enforce permit parking across the borough is greater than the income it generates. It therefore needs to make the system self-financing to secure its long-term future.
However the plans have been criticised by families in areas including Whitley Bay and North Shields.
One dad, who lives near Whitley Bay town centre, said: “I think these increases are absolutely disgraceful.
“We shouldn’t have to pay to park outside our own homes at all but we are being hit with these extra costs at a time when the council is already talking about putting up our council tax and getting rid of weekly bin collections.
“I have a car and my wife has a car. At the moment, we only pay £20 altogether as one permit is free.
“But when these permits run out, we will have to pay £50 in total to get two new ones. That’s more than double the cost to us. And we haven’t even added a visitor pass to that.
“We have two young children – their grandparents, aunties and uncles visit us quite often. We would need a £50 visitor pass, which so far has been free. That makes it a total of £100 a year.
“At a time when the cost of living is rising, this is just going to penalise people even more.”
The new system will also introduce ‘virtual’ permits for vouchers specific to a single vehicle. This means there will be no need to display a paper permit and ‘improper display and failure to display’ offences will be a thing of the past.
There will be an online application process, allowing immediate use of new or amended virtual permits, and council officers will be able to use handheld devices with ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) technology for enforcement.
A spokesman for the authority said: “We have managed to provide residential parking permits free of charge for many years. “However, implementing, managing and enforcing the parking permit scheme across the borough costs more than the income it generates, and the number of applications for new permit schemes continues to rise.
“To ensure we can sustain this valuable service, we are bringing our permit scheme in line with our neighbouring authorities and introducing a charge.
“We have written to all those affected to explain the changes.
“It is important to note that the charge will be applied to all new applications, and only at the point of renewal for all existing permit holders.
“We understand that following the introduction of the charge, some residents may request removal from their permit scheme and we will, of course, do so wherever possible.”