Stroud District Council alliance leaders have responded to Conservative claims on parking charges.
“We are quite surprised by this open letter which aims to mislead and alarm the public. The one hour rate has not changed in the five years before this proposed charge,” said Councillors Doina Cornell (Labour), Catherine Braun (Green) and Ken Tucker (Liberal Democrat).
“Across all 6 SDC fee-charging car parks, the change proposed now is by a total of just over 3%. The proposal is to freeze charges in all 6 Stroud car parks for 2 hour stays or any stays of 4 hours and above. No rises are proposed in Church Street and Rowcroft. SDC rises are also in line with inflation, and Cllr Stephen Davies voted for these increases in the budget strategy last year. They are just the same as those being proposed for the GCC budget meeting next week, and Cllr Davies is a cabinet member for GCC so presumably will be supporting his own budget and not raising a petition against it.”
“The income generated supports a range of areas for example looking after Stratford Park, car park maintenance and management, and town centre improvements,” said the Alliance Leaders. “ The new Council Plan prioritises Environment and Climate Change and within that, mobility and transport, and Economy, Recovery and Regeneration – we are proposing a budget this week which is committed to supporting the local economy, our market towns and high streets, and sustainable transport for all.”
1 hour charges are proposed to rise by 10p (12.5%) in 4 of the 6 car parks in Stroud, and 3 hour charges by 20p (11.1%). This means changing charges for a total of 8 time limits and freezing 19 charges. That means that using the overall tariff structure, the increase is just over 3%.
An average increase of 3% was part of the Budget Strategy approved by Council in October 2021.
The overall tariff structure can be seen on page 75 of the schedule of fees and charges proposed https://stroud.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s3713/Item%205d%20-%20Appendix%20I%20-%20Fees%20and%20Charges%202022-23.pdf
