Council parties clash over free parking plans

In under two weeks, the residents of Huntingdonshire will go to the polls in the local elections.

The district council - which looks after services including planning, licences and waste - is currently under the control of a Liberal Democrat-led rainbow coalition, made up of Greens, Labour and Independents.

The biggest party, though, are the Conservatives, while Reform currently hold none of the 52 seats up for election on the council.

Topics covered during a debate on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's Chris Mann show included housing, growth, local government reorganisation and free parking after the county's Conservative mayor vowed to make parking free in parts of Huntingdonshire and Peterborough, pledging £1.5m over two years.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Brett Mickleburgh said it was "important to remember" that an hour of free parking gives someone 83p to spend at a shop because of VAT.

"I'm not sure that reinvigorates the high street particularly well," he said.

He said it was business rates that were "really driving the pressure on the high street".

Mickleburgh added his administration had not increased car parking prices "because we realise that there is impact and pressure on the high street and that.. budgets are under strain, and they need to be in a certain place, however you can only do what you can do as a district council".

The leader of the Conservative opposition, Ross Martin, said for the past two years his party had put forward a budget amendment to have one hour of free parking.

"We're going to hear the councillors from the joint administration plead poverty," he said.

"Well, the reality is over the last four years they've put over £12m into their reserves whilst at the same time increasing council tax by the maximum, at the same time introducing the green bin tax so everyone has to be charged for green waste to be collected. So they have enough cash. This is all about political decisions.

"My group have been very clear about what our political decisions are, it would be to do one hour free parking in all of our short stay car parks."

Labour leader Sam Wakeford said it was "no secret that local government is not awash with money", pointing to austerity under previous governments.

He said he was "certainly not closed to exploring whether free parking opportunities can be used" but that "I think the evidence picture is pretty limited".

"But I think as well, ensuring people can get as affordably as possible to and from market towns and our service centres in larger villages is critical," he said.

He added that was why he had "pushed very hard" to protect the Tiger Pass, which allows people under 25 to travel for £1 single fares across the county.

Lara Davenport-Ray, the leader of the Greens, said "free parking is not the magic solution that other parties will make you think".

"It's not economically viable for our council. It's not fair to those who can't afford a car. Why should car owners get a free perk?

"There is no evidence that free parking leads to footfall increases on the high streets."

She said she was "quite disappointed that we have not heard from my Conservative colleague [Martin] an explanation of what the mayor's plan is with free parking and where that money is going and why it's only us who are receiving it".

Reform's Ryan Coogan said "to suggest for one minute that free parking in a town or city or village centre doesn't make any sort of impact at all, 'it's only 83p', is either completely disingenuous or you haven't seen any live case studies".

He said Ely in the neighbouring council area of East Cambridgeshire, which has free parking across the district, was "thriving on market days".

"Why? Because there's free parking," Coogan said.

"People could nip in and do a bit of banking. They can nip in and get something they want. But when people around the table are suggesting that there is no money, I would suggest that it is being wasted."

The joint administration includes Independents, and Julie Kerr said their parking strategy "gives us far more flexibility around where we charge and how we charge, and that's going to make a big difference".

"I'm very, very clear that I did not want the car park charges to go up," she said.

She claimed they were "still waiting for the combined authority mayor to come back, because there's no point us doing free parking if he's going to bring it out of his budget".

A full list of candidates taking part in the Huntingdonshire District Council elections can be found on the authority's website.

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