A CONTROVERSIAL parking scheme for Holmfirth is on the verge of being shelved, the Express & Chronicle can reveal.

The plan, to implement a disc parking scheme near to many of Holmfirth’s key retail areas, appeared to be on track for an 18-month trial to begin next month, after Kirklees councillors gave it the green-light last year.

The four-hour limit discs, devised to prevent motorists from parking outside residents’ homes all day, were to be issued for £1 on a monthly basis, and enforced from 8am to 4pm daily by parking control officers.

But a recent show of dissent by business owners, unhappy at the prospect of having to move their vehicles at least once a day, seems to have forced a U-turn and caused a split among the Tory Holme Valley South area committee.

Committee members will vote on the future of the scheme at a public meeting at Holmfirth Methodist Church at 7pm on May 13, but with two of the three-man panel admitting they have major reservations, the £70,000 trial looks set to be axed.

Local businessman and Holme Valley South representative, Clr Ken Sims, said after receiving the public consultation results he would be voting against the plan. “I’m happy to tell you there’s more against it than for it, so as far as I’m concerned we’ll refuse it and go back to the drawing board.

“We’ve been looking for ways to sort out the congestion in Holmfirth and we’d seen a similar disc parking scheme work in Harrogate and Knaresborough. But the majority don’t want it – we’ve listened, the results are overwhelming. We’re here to serve the electorate and if they don’t want it who are we to force it on them?”

Clr Sims revealed that the consultation process by Kirklees Highways department showed more than two thirds of those surveyed were against the disc parking trial.

But chairman of the Holme Valley South area committee, Clr Nigel Patrick, said he was still for the idea and claimed the idea wasn’t as unpopular as some were making out.

He said: “It’s split into two groups, the residents and businesses. But the majority is businesses because more of them responded to the consultation. The residents want the scheme but the businesses don’t.

“The businesses want an eight-hour allowance, but then it’s not disc parking. It’s got be a short period of time so you get the necessary turn-over of vehicles.

“I think it’s worth trying, but there’s been an awful lot of scaremongering. Unless people realise that there’s got to be some compromise then it’s going to be very difficult to find a solution.”

Clr Patrick added that he thought the parking situation was only going to get worse and he didn’t think doing nothing was an option, as some local groups did.

And he said he did not believe that permit parking was the answer as it meant parking spaces would be empty when residents were away from their homes.

“We looked at what other market towns do and that’s why we went to Knaresborough.

“We thought it was worth trying but after we involved the business association and some others along the line, they did a U-turn.

“I don’t honestly believe that the scheme would put anybody out of business, there’s plenty of unrestricted parking, it’s just a little bit further out of town.

“Every idea that’s suggested is going to be controversial to somebody but if we don’t try things we’ll never know.”

The third member of the Holme Valley South Area Committee, Clr Donald Firth, was not willing to divulge which way he would vote, only saying he would listen to the views at the meeting and make his decision from there.

But Clr Firth who had previously said the scheme was “a nonsense” did admit that he had a problem with the four-hour limit and revealed that councillors were now looking at other methods such as park-and-ride.

Clr Firth said it was also important to find somewhere for residents to park at night, especially for those on Station Road.

Holmfirth greengrocer, Andrew Bray, said the £1 charge was not a problem but the four-hour limit was just not practical. “Places like CragRats employ 100 people, you can’t have all those workers moving their vehicles every four hours. The community has got to learn to work and live together,” he added.