Making a difference to the people of Medway

Deputy Leader Alan Jarrett: Car park charges freeze with warm wishes

Article posted on Friday, 20 November 2009

Difficult times call for difficult decisions to be made, and in the budget for 2009/2010 that is exactly what the Conservatives decided to do.

In constructing the budget we had to decide how to help the hard-pressed people of Medway in the face of Labour's devastating economic policies that have taken Britain into the deepest recession in living memory.

Measures to help both the retail trade and the shoppers were a prime consideration, and this led us to consider whether we could do anything with our car parking charges - already among the lowest in Kent.

The result of those deliberations was for us to freeze car parking charges in Medway for the next THREE years. Two hours parking in Chatham now stands at 80p and compare favourably with Ashford - £1.60, Maidstone - £1.80, Canterbury - £1.80 and Folkestone - £2.

This represents amazing value for money. It is costing Medway Council almost £500,000 to take this step, but we believe it essential.

On top of that we will be spending another £50,000 a year to introduce limited free parking at Christmas in our car parks. Full details will appear in Medway Matters soon, but again this measure will help to boost the retail offer here in Medway.

The third measure we took to boost travel and parking was to reduce the cost of companion passes for those accompanying disabled people to £30 a year. This increased the subsidy paid by Medway Council to £145 a year per person.

Companion passes have to be taken in the overall context of the concessionary fares scheme imposed on us by government. To date Medway is out of pocket by a staggering £2,700,000 on a scheme that the Labour government says is "fully funded".

That failure to grasp elementary maths is indicative of this government, and demonstrates why Britain is in such a sorry financial plight.

In a sad budget debate all opposition councillors refused to support these proposals. Labour members voted against freezing parking charges, voted against free parking at Christmas and voted against reducing the cost of companion passes.

Happily we Conservatives voted the measures through. As a result we have cheap car parking, free car parking at Christmas and a host of other measures that will make things better for all this Christmas.