Parking fees not a healthy decision

Last week, without notice or consultation, parking charges were levied overnight in the Leisure Centre car park, North Parade, Bath.

Until last week, and for some considerable time, overnight parking has been free until 8am.

Now for early morning users, the centre opens at 6.30am, we have to pay £1.50 up to 8am.

Well, you could call it sneaky, by Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) Council, and you could call it underhand.

You could also call it myopic, as we are encouraged to stay fit and healthy to ensure we don’t need other council services, but it is not clear how this encourages wellbeing in the local population.

Many of us use the centre before we go to work, and some go everyday. So £1.50 tots up to over £10 in a week and some will find this an expense too far, on top of a cost of living crisis which is draining all our budgets.

We already pay a substantial amount in local taxes to BANES and for those of us that live outside of the city we pay even more.

I am sure that users of the centre will recall this penurious behaviour toward its taxpayers when they come to vote in the council elections next year.

PS I use Bath Leisure centre because I was a member and could use 3 centres.

However, without consultation or notice BANES decided to cut this down to 2 centres meaning I could no longer use the one at Midsomer Norton.

Thus, Keynsham and Bath are more convenient as they are on my way to work.

Cllr Lesley Mansell