The Liberal Democrats have finally got their petition into HDC. I haven't seen the St Neots Conservative Councillors Group get their petition in, yet. What worries me about the Liberal Democrat petition is: "A significant proportion of the signatures came from visitors to the Town." This means the Council taxpayer is yet again subsidising people from other Towns to use our facilities.
The whole problem behind the introduction of charges is the Conservative run HDC has no real strategy on reducing the £6.1 million deficit. This and other piecemeal decisions will just keep making for bad publicity for HDC. The Council needs to have a proper strategy which includes off loading many services to the Town and Parish Councils.
2 comments:
Good blog, but I disagree with you on this issue.
I'd say at least 90% of the 700 or so signatures on the News and Crier's petition live in Huntingdonshire.
So while it is subsidising visitors to the town, I believe that most people in the town also want to see the car park kept free.
I appreciate savings need to be made. But the relatively small returns the council may make from charging weighed against the potential damage to local businesses (many of which are already struggling) simply isn't worth the risk.
If we were talking about 50 pence or even a £1 an hour then I could understand where everyone is coming from. 20 pence an hour 8am to 6pm and free on Sundays isn't that bad.
I would also say if the Town Council really wanted to keep the car park free then let them take it over.
Lastly, no one - not even the St Neots Conservatives - have come up with any costed ideas on what to cut instead. £6.1 million of cuts needs to happen. Keeping this car park free makes it £6.2 million.
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