Opposition’s praise for partial U-turn on parking

Opposition leaders who called for parking fees to be scrapped in County Durham have welcomed a move to partially back their proposals.

Durham County Council has confirmed proposals to stop charges in council car parks after 2pm every day will be debated by bosses next week.

The policy has been suggested just weeks after the local authority’s Conservative opposition group formally requested local authority parking machines be turned off completely for the whole of 2021/22 in an attempt to kickstartapost-pandemiceconomic recovery.

“We welcome this partial U-turn by the Labour group which, given they were [previously] queuing up to criticise freeparking,”saidCllrRichard Bell,leaderoftheConservative group.

“However, it falls short of our proposal, which was for all-day free car parking in car parksforafull12months,from April 1, whereas they are going for free after 2pm for nine months and reviewing every three months.

“It’sastepintherightdirection, but we will continue our campaign.”

Cllr Bell proposed scrapping parking charges completely for 12 months at a countycouncilmeetinginFebruary to set spending plans for 2021/22.

Itwashopedthemove,estimatedtocost£700,000,would boost visitor numbers to the county’s towns and villages.

However, while the original Conservative proposal was rejected,councilbossespromisedtoconsidertheproposalas part of wider measures to increase footfall.

The modified policy is due tobediscussedwhenthecouncil’srulingcabinetonWednesday.