Minutes:
14.1 The Vice-Chair invited Mr Ferguson, a member of the public to ask his question to the Leader of the Council.
Question 1 Mr Ferguson to Councillor Ward, Leader of the Council
My question to Cllr Ward refers to the introduction of revised car parking charges in Babergh. Cabinet Minutes from last year show that as Leader of Babergh District Council and the Conservative Group, you originally supported a Cabinet decision to introduce increased car parking charges in the District. Subsequently you changed your position on this matter when, with the support of additional Conservative Cabinet members, it was agreed that increased car parking charges would not be introduced in the foreseeable future. As you have now resigned from the Conservative Group and crossed the floor to become an Independent Member of Babergh District Council, have you changed your most recent position on car parking, namely, that Babergh District Council will not introduce additional car parking charges in the remaining period of this current Administration.
Response
Thank you for your question, Mr Ferguson regarding the vexed matter of car parking charges. Firstly, I would like to say that I am not an Independent councillor: like you and several others currently in this chamber were, I am an Independent Conservative councillor.
I do acknowledge that this is the most controversial and divisive decision that Babergh has ever made and so I would first briefly like to provide a reminder of the original Cabinet decision in February 2021. Currently, we have three hours free parking, with a limit of three hours in short-stay car parks and charges for stays longer than this in long-stay car parks. The changes we approved will reduce this free period to one hour, with very modest charges of between £1 and £2 for stays between one and three hours, depending on location. The average dwell time in our town car parks is 64 minutes and so a large number of users would be unaffected by this change.
As you are aware, the Cabinet decision had cross-party support as, indeed, did the 2021/22 budget which included the financial impact based on a proposed implementation start date of July 2021. As a result of the then ongoing effects of the Covid pandemic, the Conservative group changed its mind, and the start date was postponed in the autumn of last year.
Irrespective of my personal view, the Cabinet decision from February 2021 still stands. The implementation date has not been decided yet but will be announced well in advance of new charges being introduced.
Supplementary Question
The Council’s declared intention to start developing the old council accommodation at corks lane later this year, can you tell me how Babergh intends to replace the about 100 car parking places across the river that will be lost as the current car parks are now at full capacity even without the planned growth and there does not appear to be any alternative site available in Hadleigh.
Response
This is not really a supplementary to your original question however, what I will say is that the car parking to which you are referring to are not official parking spaces and when I have passed by, and I do several times a week, those car parking areas are not heavily utilised and in any event we have carried out surveys on the official car parks in Hadleigh which show that there is plenty spare capacity on pretty much every day of the week.
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