West End Car Parks- Car parking charges should be suspended

 

At a City Council meeting this week I seconded a motion calling for the temporary suspension of  car parking charges in the West End car parks.

In March 2018 Dundee City Council agreed to consult on a residents parking scheme in the West End and in other areas around the city centre.  Just before Covid-19 hit there was, at long last, some progress on the consultation.

 

I have been clear that charging for West End car parks should only have been an option once a decision had been made on residents’ car parking.  We need a joined up policy about car parking and what we have is very far from that.

 

It was the right decision to suspend these charges at the start of the pandemic and the wrong one to reinstate them.  The public health advice is to work from home if you can.  Dundee City Council is producing a perverse disincentive to follow the public health advice this is just wrong.

 

It could cost a local resident over £500 a year to park in the West End as a result of these changes.

 

These charges in the West End should be suspended.  Other charges should be looked at to ensure consistency across the city.

 

We have a duty to support the public health advice.  We should be making it easy for people to work from home not creating an incentive for them to go to work.

 

I was happy to second the motion put forward by  Bailie Fraser Macpherson.

I was hugely disappointed that the motion failed by one vote with all opposition councillors voting for the motion and the SNP voting to keep the charges.