Parking consultation starts

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A MAJOR public consultation launches at Warrington today (Monday) to give residents the chance to comment on the borough council’s controversial draft parking strategy.
The strategy – already approved by the council’s executive board – envisages charging for on-street parking and the use of CCTV to enforce bus lane offences.
It aims to enable parking services to operate on a “break even” basis, wiping out the current £242,000 deficit.
A questionnaire will be available from today where residents can share their views on the strategy and provide feedback on how the proposals could be improved.
Cllr Linda Dirir (pictured), the council’s executive member for highways, transportation and climate change, said: “The parking questionnaire will identify what residents find important about parking in the town and will help put together the final strategy going forward. You’ll have the chance to comment on resident parking schemes and on-street parking so if you have a view, make sure you

share it with us.”
The questionnaire can be completed online on the council’s website by CLICKING HERE or can be printed off and returned to Parking Strategy Consultation, Transport Planning, Warrington Borough Council, Environment and Regeneration, FREEPOST NWW 50003, Warrington, WA1 1AA.
The draft parking strategy document is available to view at www.warrington.gov.uk or hard copies can be found in local libraries and the Times Square Contact Centre, 23-25 Bank Street.
Parking services are currently delivered by a small “in house” team, supported by specialist parking contractor APCOA.
The service has run at a loss for years – although for off-street parking, it actually achieves a surplus of £51,000. The losses are racked up by staff parking (£106,000), residents’ parking zones (£129,000) and general on-street parking (£58,000)
A number of actions to reduce the overall deficit are either planned or already in place.
These include changes to tariffs at the Market Multi-Storey Car Park, increased contract parking charges on car parks, revised charges in Lymm and Stockton Heath, increased staff parking charges and a reduction in the size of the “in house” team.
In a full year, these changes would turn the existing deficit into a surplus of about £44,000.
But the draft policy looks to future needs as well as the existing deficit.
Forecasted income from on-street parking charges is £79,000 a year and from bus lane enforcement £125,000 in the first year.
A series of drop-in sessions are to be held to help explain the strategy.
They will be at Orford Library (Jan 22), Birchwood Library (Jan 25), Penketh Library (Jan 28), Culcheth Library (Jan 29), Stockton Heath Library (Feb 5) and Lymm Library (Feb 7). All sessions will be between 3-7pm.
It is also hoped to hold sessions at Golden Square on February 1-2 at a time to be confirmed.
The closing date for responses is Friday 22 February.
To complete the questionnaire online CLICK HERE


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Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.

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