Petition against price hike

TWYFORD: Over 2,000 people have signed an online petition against the proposed changes to car park charges across the Wokingham Borough.

On September 29 the Lib Dem-run executive at Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) proposed a set of increases to hourly, overnight and season ticket car park charges in a bid to offset an expected shortfall of up to £800,000 in parking revenue for this financial year.

The increases will affect off-street, councilrun car parks and are set to come into effect in January 2023.

Currently the two-hour parking rate in Twyford is 60p and from January 2023 it is set to rise to £2.

This is just one of the 13 changes to the fee structure. Another change is that free car parking periods, currently offered on Sundays, Bank Holidays and overnight, will now be subject to charges.

The petition has been initiated by Wokingham's Conservative party who object to prices being increased during the current cost of living crisis and while retailers are still recovering from the impact of COVID on footfall.

Pauline Jorgensen, leader of the Wokingham Conservatives, said:

“The petition has only been going a couple of weeks and already we have in excess of 2000 signatures.

“I don't remember the liberals or labour telling people that this is what they would do if they voted for them last May.”

According to WBC, offstreet parking charges have not been increased since 2018.

Leader of the council, Cllr Clive Jones, said: “We know these proposed increases won't prove popular, particularly when there's pressure on all kinds of living costs, but our parking fees have been exceptionally low for a long time and we can't afford to keep them where they are. This proposal won't actually bring in more money than we had before. It will simply get us back where we need to be and offset inflation and the impact of the pandemic.”