Councillor's bid for car parking permit rejected
PLANS to give town councillors special parking permits in Tewkesbury have been thrown out.
Councillor Lloyd Ward presented the idea to a town council meeting, saying the authority should ask the borough council to issue town councillors with permits for the town centre.
He said: "All the work we do is voluntary so I believe my request is valid."
He added that the parking permits should also be made available to the town council's staff.
But his fellow members voted to reject the idea.
One of them, Julie Greening, said members would have difficulty justifying the move to hard-up people in the community who have to pay to use the borough council's car parks.
Her stance was supported by John Badham, who said: "We're supposed to be doing this for public service, not to obtain special privileges."
5 Comments
by Shireresident
Tuesday, February 21 2012, 3:34PM
“I think free parking for all those you mention would be very helpful to the town in general. Better still why not support the campaign to stop the town's parking being used as a cash cow by the Borough Council.”
by MarkC11
Tuesday, February 21 2012, 2:52PM
“Now Shire resident, considering Cllr Ward stood as a Labour party candidate in the Borough Elections in 2011 I think it safe to assume he is a Labour Cllr. But as Cllr Ward is a member for Priors Park I assume most of the work he does is on the Park. But as a lot of vlountary work is doen in various places in the Twon by a lot of people perhaps you would advocate that they should all get a free parking permit. An orderly queue needs now to be formed of those working in the charity shops the schools or wherever. Nice try Maggie but not this time.”
by Shireresident
Tuesday, February 21 2012, 2:21PM
“I didn't realise Cllr. Ward was affiliated to any party Mark, I was merely applying commonsense to the problem. After all people providing a service to the public get free parking in the town, the doctors surgeries all have their own staff parking, as does our MP. I know the cost of parking imposed by the Borough council is contraversial and many think it is to the detriment of local business. To penalise the voluntary sector when so much more is being expected of it just seems a tad unfair.”
by MarkC11
Tuesday, February 21 2012, 12:34PM
“As the Town Council is putting up it precept it does seem to me to be a strange that this Town Cllr wants a freebe like that. I am sorry Shire Resident to try and defend this request from a Labour Cllr is pushing it. He is not a worker at the Town Hall but a Cllr. I have actually yet to see what impact Cllr Ward has made on anything. The Borough Car park is hardly central to the Town.”
by Shireresident
Tuesday, February 21 2012, 10:30AM
“I would have thought that Town councillors should not be out of pocket for the voluntary work they do, after all, "we're all in it together". Borough and County councillors get considerable expenses yet probably make less impact at the grass roots than unpaid town and parish councillors. Also staff at Tewkesbury borough Council have a big free car park so it seems unfair that workers in the Town Hall aren't afforded the same courtesy.”