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Search forNo one has right to park in own street - Bristol's transport chief
Monday, August 11, 2008, 08:00
Mark Bradshaw, who is overseeing a proposal to create parking permit zones around the city centre, said residents could no longer expect free parking on their street.
The city council is currently reading through the responses to their consultation on plans to set up Residents' Parking Zones (RPZs) for up to 50,000 homes around the city centre.
Under the proposals, permits would cost £40 per year for one car, a further £80 for a second car and an extra £500 for a third car.
Mr Bradshaw said that the 15,000 responses to the consultation had been mixed in their feedback.
As well as people who live in Bristol, an RPZ in the city would affect those who live in South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and B&NES, who drive to work in the city and park for free.
Initial progress on the proposals is set to be decided this autumn and a pilot zone could be suggested by the city council in the new year.
Speaking to the Evening Post, Mr Bradshaw said: "This episode has encouraged positive debate and I want to be upfront with people.
"I don't believe that people have a right to park on their street.
"The idea that there is a parking space for each house is not a valid one – if someone is away for two weeks it would mean that their space could not be used for a fortnight.
"So dedicated bays are a non-starter because there is no law which gives people the right to have a parking space outside their house. People say that they are being charged for something that is free anyway but there's not a right to park freely in a city.
"The philosophy is that if you have got a car then you have got to be asked to contribute towards the parking costs."
Mr Bradshaw denied the RPZ proposal was simply a money-spinner for the city council and also refuted suggestions that motorists in the city were being victimised.
He said: "By law we are not allowed to use parking income for other parts of what the council does. Not all council tax payers have cars so it would be unfair to put this on the general council tax for the city. Additional money would have to be spent on transport initiatives in the city."
He added: "I can understand why hard-working people might find it difficult to pay a new cost but what I am keen to demonstrate is that the costs will be kept to a minimum.
"This is not a money-making exercise but I am acutely aware that people are finding it difficult with increase energy bills and petrol becoming more expensive.
"That's why we need to do more to show that we do understand and that the charge that we have in mind reflects the true cost of the scheme. There will be complete consultation with every aspect of the scheme and that includes the cost as well.
"My household has a car – there are various things that me and my partner need it for and I know access to work is very difficult to achieve by public transport for some people.
"I'm not anti-motorist, nor is the council, but we do feel that a lot of people would like greater choice in how they travel and at the moment that choice isn't really there, either because the service isn't available, or they are too expensive or unreliable, or because it needs more investment. Our focus is to get to the point where those issues are being addressed."
Mr Bradshaw also said that the consultation process for the controlled parking zone proposal, which came under fire from some residents, needed looking at.
He said: "People campaigning against a scheme will inevitably say that a survey is flawed but I think that because it's such a complex issue, and because different areas of the city have such different problems related to parking, I'm not sure a paper-based survey on its own is ideal.
"We need to look at electronic media, running more exhibitions and whether we should do that more intensively – these are all issues that we have go to explore because we are really committed to real consultation."
He added: "I would like to come back with at least some initial thinking in the autumn but I don't want to impose an artificial timetable on it. But we should be able to reveal some of our thinking about which area we could run as a pilot."
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