Labour councillors vote to keep parking charges

From the Enfield Advertiser

CONSERVATIVE councillors failed in their bid to end the controversial new Sunday parking charges, which were introduced in Enfield town earlier this month.

At Wednesday's full council meeting Terry Neville slammed the council's "flawed" decision to press ahead with the scheme which he claimed could cripple Enfield high street as shoppers flock to large, out-of-town shopping centres with free parking.

But in a move likely to infuriate residents, traders and shoppers Labour remained adamant that the tariffs are here to stay.

Councillor Del Goddard dismissed the opposition's argument that the sky-high cost of parking was driving people from town centres adding that the woes of the high street had to be looked at "in context".

His tough stance on the controversial issue was echoed by leader of the council Doug Taylor who pointed to the VAT hike and the poor state of the national economy as the main reasons high streets are struggling.

But as the debate grew increasingly heated Terry Neville hit out at Labour's arguments and pointed out that the out-of-town stores have to cope with exactly the same pressures, but still seemed to be doing much better than their town-centre counterparts.

He concluded his attack on the Labour decisions by calling for a vote on the issue.

But this plea was shrugged off by Mr Goddard who told the councillor: "taking it to a vote would not be constructive".

Labour's determination to keep the tariffs, which will swell council coffers by as much as £100,000 meant the motion was easily defeated by 31 to 23.

Read the full article here.

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