Council says no to more free parking
Christmas scheme is deemed too costly
Councillors voted against a motion to provide more free parking in Royal Borough car parks over the Christmas period at a full council meeting on Tuesday.
The motion was put forward as a measure to support local businesses by encouraging residents to shop freely without worrying about parking charges.
At a full meeting of the council, an amendment was brought forward to provide free parking on Monday and Tuesday from 9am to 12pm, with immediate effect, until the end of the year.
This followed a petition created by a Windsor business owner which gained more than 1,600 signatures in less than two weeks.
Addressing the council, peti
tion creator Brian McCormack, owner of Snappy Snaps in Windsor said: “We need anything that will help improve footfall up until Christmas.
“It’s extremely important to get residents shopping in their own town centre.”
Councillor Jon Davey (WWRA, Clewer & Dedworth West) then put forward his motion, which would be an addition to the current scheme of free parking on a Wednesday evening and a Sunday.
Cllr Davey argued that elderly people and parents prefer daylight hours, where there is better visibility and children are at school.
The estimated loss in parking revenue would be about £30,000, if the motion had succeeded. This was a major sticking point for the Conservative administration.
Cllr David Cannon, lead member for parking, said it was ‘not feasible’ financially. Councillor Samantha Rayner (Con, Eton and Castle) echoed this remark ‘with a heavy hear t’.
Among the councillors supporting the motion was Cllr Gurch Singh (Lib Dem, St Mary’s), who said he felt that rejecting it would be ‘anti-business and anti-resident’.
Cllr Simon Werner, leader of the Liberal Democrats, criticised the administration for looking to save £30,000 poten
tially at a greater long-term cost.
“This kind of short-termism is what got the council into this financial mess,” he said.
Cllr Carole Da Costa (WWRA, Clewer & Dedworth East) raised concerns about the impact on volunteers – she described how £2 a day, once or twice a week across several volunteers, starts to add up.
Having heard these arguments, Conservative members reiterated that the council is struggling to cut costs in order to stay afloat and support res
idents.
Cllr Ross McWilliams (Con, Cox Green) said he had heard ‘no sensible suggestions’ for how the scheme could be financed.
“To simply come up with another £30,000 is not something we take lightly,” added Cllr Donna Stimson (Con, St Mary’s). “We are scraping the barrel to find where we can balance the budget.”
The motion was put to a vote and the full council voted against the motion,
21 to 18.