WARRINGTON Borough Council has, possibly unwittingly, taken a decision which will further discourage members of the public from attending their meetings.
Pay and display charges are to be introduced on the Town Hall car park behind Bank House. They will operate between the hours of 8am and 6.30pm.
This means that members of the public arriving to attend meetings, most of which start at 6.30pm, must either arrive late or, as would normally be the case, arrive a few minutes early and pay £1 to park or run the risk of some over-zealous parking attendant booking them.
The obvious solution, if it is really deemed necessary to introduce the charges at all, would be to end the pay and display charging at 6pm.
Councillors often complain that the public takes little interest in council affairs and it is true that very few people show much inclination to attend Town Hall meetings. But if they are now to be expected to pay £1 for the privilege, the numbers will surely dwindle still further.
Why are the charges considered necessary? Well, the council’s stated aim is to provide alternative short term parking close to the Golden Square shopping centre.
Surely this is an issue for Golden Square, not the council? And in any case, the shopping centre already has its own massive car park which is seldom full.
WARRINGTON Borough Council has, possibly unwittingly, taken a decision
which will further discourage members of the public from attending
their meetings.
No parking for the public
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About Author
Gary Skentelbery
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.
