Kirklees Council proposal to charge teachers to park at schools revealed
Mar 8 2010 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner
They added that the document failed to take into account the many privately-run car parks which have sprung up around Huddersfield town centre during the recession. These car parks offer all-day parking for around £2.
The source said: “You can’t plug a hole in the budget by constantly taxing customers. It will drive people towards the independent parking providers.”
The source believes the parking changes would alienate many residents.
They said: “Charging teachers to pay to go to school would be a sea-change. They could even charge sixth formers who are eligible to drive. It would have a detrimental effect on morale.
“Charging to park in villages in Kirklees would have a detrimental effect on them.”
Kirklees deputy leader Clr Ken Smith said yesterday: “Parking revenue has been under pressure since the recession hit and we need to relieve the pressure.”
But the Ashbrow Labour man said Kirklees would not be taking up some of the more controversial ideas in the leaked document.
He said: “We’re not going to charge teachers to park in schools or put in charges in areas where they haven’t been before. We’re going to raise this money by being clever.”
Kirklees also released figures to the Examiner showing how the recession has hit parking income. Occupancy rates in the council’s off-street car parks are down from 45,000 a week in 2007 to 40,000 in 2009.
Kirklees expects to take in £5.42m in parking revenue in 2009/10 – down from £5.85m two years ago.
A council spokesman said: “To offset this reduction, the council is planning to make savings in its operational costs during 2010/11, but will also investigate initiatives to better manage the parking issues in and around our town centres.
“Proposals currently being considered include a review of the on-street charging periods and ensuring the appeals process is fair by vigorously pursuing those who flout the law.”
The spokesman added that more commuters were parking in residential areas.
He said: “This movement of parking from off-street car parks has resulted in more commuters parking in residential areas near the town centre, which creates problems.
“This activity is a cause of concern and disruption to residents who have asked to council to take action. Indiscriminate and inappropriate parking in town centres also causes access difficulties for public transport and delivery vehicles”.
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