Labour councillors have claimed “a small victory for residents”, after forcing the Coalition to reconsider re-introducing parking charges in county towns.
The dramatic U-turn from the Tory-led Coalition comes after intense pressure from County Durham Labour, residents and businesses, who claim re-introducing the fees risks destabilising trade and could lead to further decline in town centres, still recovering from the pandemic.
Cross-party members supported a Labour motion put before Full Council today (Wednesday, January 24) by Cllr Alison Batey, of Pelton Division, to demand the Council reconsider the scrapping of “free after 2pm”.
Cllr Batey told how Chester-le-Street had lost banks to The Galleries, which has free parking; Seaham’s ongoing regeneration would be impacted if people had to pay to visit and how Bishop Auckland, Barnard Castle and Spennymoor all had decreased footfall.
Arguing that re-introducing parking charges on January 1 had been counter-productive, she said:
“The decision to bring back full parking charges at the turn of the year was ridiculous and the way it was quietly re-introduced bordered on negligent. Today’s U-turn by the Council is a victory for residents and businesses of County Durham. I would expect to now be consulted as part of the review into the re-introduction of these charges, in a fully transparent process.
“Across the whole of the UK town centres are in decline. Years of austerity strangling off council funding for public realm improvements, the impact of the pandemic and the rise of online shopping has taken its toll, and the removal of free car parking after 2pm at this time only worsens conditions.
“Parking charges are just one of many issues we need to address to re-energise our town centres, but today’s decision is a step in the right direction.”
Cllr Batey was Chair of the Economy and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee, which created a task group to look at county retail, bringing forward recommendations for town Masterplans, which were shelved by the Coaltion when it gained control of the Council.
County Durham Labour Leader, Cllr Carl Marshall, said:
“While this is a small victory for all of us who opposed the move to re-introduce parking charges after 2pm, it is by no means a cause to celebrate. This shambolic Coalition once-again mirrors the government it helps prop-up, by being forced into a potential U-turn on a major policy decision just weeks after introducing it.
“When running a Council, painful decisions must be made, but having hiked Council Tax by 8%, refused to lobby government to extend the Universal Credit uplift and sold off a Council HQ that would have saved taxpayers in excess of £250,000 a year, you start to wonder whose side this Council is on, because it doesn’t appear to be the people of County Durham.”
Chester-le-Street Independent, Cllr Paul Sexton, seconded Cllr Batey’s motion. He said:
“Councils across the country are doing as much as they can to support their towns and villages, whereas DCC appear to want to pinch the pockets of hard-up residents, at a cost to hardworking shopkeepers and to the detriment of our town centres.
“Residents are extremely confused as to why they have to pay to park, while other towns have free parking. Where’s the parity? Residents in Chester-le-Street, particularly, don’t understand why we allow private enterprise to take 90% (over £100,000) of parking revenue, while DCC claims it needs to balances the books. Scaremongering, hypocrisy, or both?
“I’ve raised this before while in Cabinet, only to be ignored. I raised it again with Cllr Bell at a meeting in May 2023. I again raised it in October 2023, where I was promised he’d look into it.
“What makes this decision to remove free after 2pm really shameful is the fact it was done without consultation or forewarning elected members – most of us found out via Facebook.”