Caerphilly County Borough Council has defended plans to introduce car parking charges at its country parks.
Under the proposals, visitors to the parks will be charged for car parking in a bid to raise an estimated £80,000 a year for the council.
The plans, currently under public notice, could result in charges at Parc Cwm Darran, Parc Penallta, Pen y Fan Pond, Sirhowy Valley Country Park and Park Coetir Bargoed.
A cost of £1 for two hours, £3 daily and £50 for the year will be charged seven days a week should the plans go ahead. Disabled badge holders will pay £1 for three hours.
Pay and display machines will be placed in car parks, with park rangers enforcing the rules.
Opposition Plaid Cymru councillors have criticised the move.
Cllr Colin Mann, leader of the Plaid Cymru group, said: “I accept times are very tough for local authorities but this is all about getting decisions right and I don’t think the Labour group has achieved that with its proposals to introduce parking charges at country parks.
“The Welsh Government and, indeed, the council are rightly highlighting the need for both adults and children to get out of the house and exercise and yet introducing charges is both a disincentive to do so and also short-sighted.
“Labour will no doubt challenge us to say what alternative budget we would take the money from. But Labour found the money to reward highly paid officers with another hike in pay when they could have reversed it.
“That will cost council tax-payers more than £260,000 in the current financial year. They can’t blame the Westminster Government for this decision – this is a decision made in Caerphilly by Labour.”
Labour’s deputy council leader Cllr Keith Reynolds hit back at Plaid and said: “Despite our conducting the most extensive consultation ever before setting our 2014/15 budget, no nationalist councillor criticised the proposal to introduce car parking charges at our country parks. And so far as I know, Cllr Mann and his Plaid Cymru chums have made no alternative proposals about where the car park charges’ revenue could be made up elsewhere, to balance our budget.”
Cllr Reynolds added: “The only proposal the nationalists made at the time this budget was set, was to review senior council officers’ pay, to make cuts there. But as our council’s interim chief executive, whose appointment Plaid Cymru supported, advised, this would never have made any savings in this financial year.
“So yet again, this latest Plaid proposal is nothing more than political posturing on Cllr Mann’s part, jumping on any passing political bandwagon in a desperate bid for attention. The people of Caerphilly county borough are entitled to expect opposition councillors to act constructively to cope with the Tories’ cost of living crisis – not play these petty point-scoring games.”
Objections to the proposals can be made in writing to Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Legal Services department until May 2.
A spokesman for Caerphilly County Borough Council said: “The decision to implement these changes has not been taken lightly.
“Caerphilly, along with every local authority across Wales, is facing unprecedented financial pressure as a result of UK Government funding cuts. In this financial year alone we are faced with making savings in excess of £14 million and a similar further saving is required over the next two years.
“It is inevitable that difficult decisions will need to be made and we must prioritise spending in order to protect services, therefore we are reviewing our fees and charges which include the introduction of parking fees at our country parks.
“The proposal, which affects parking at all five county parks, is subject to a public notice. Any objections raised during the objection period will be carefully considered before a decision is issued.”
Eddy Blanche, Chairman of Fochriw and Pentwyn Residents’ Association takes his granddaughter to Parc Cwm Darran.
He said: “It’s absolutely disgusting. I am sending an objection to the council as it’s a local amenity. It is where local people go, in the same way that Morgan Jones park is Caerphilly town’s local park.
“It seems the council are trying to raise money from the isolated areas of the borough. It will drop traffic going to the park which will have a negative effect jobs in the park and ultimately the local community.”
“Cllr Harry Andrews said the Labour-controlled local authority would
continue to work hard to provide a high level of service to residents”
Harry,the best thing the Labour controlled Council could do for the benefit
of residents is to downsize an overweight, obese, and, monolithic
organisation which is Caerphilly County Borough Council, it is so big
and out of corporate control and proper scrutiny by the people we elect
that an entire group of its senior officers were able to fleece the
ratepayers of hundreds of thousands of pounds without a single elected member knowing about it, how does that happen???????.
Currently the Caerphilly Council is akin to stale fried egg, i.e. spread all over the place. When times get tough, as they are at present, and the reasons for that situation is outof the council`s control, they have to “do better” in reducing demands on the ratepayers, to do this they have to tighten their corporate belt,
reduce their “demands” on the ratepayers pockets whilst at the same
time reducing the demands on the public purse. But, where do the council
look in order to balance their books?, answer: to the ratepayers, put
this or that charge up, create a new charge for something that was
previously paid for out of the rates we already pay, and, through
creative accounting, move money from one department to another thus
disguising the lack of depth of any real internal savings.
This Council have largely lost sight of the impact on local ratepayers
household income, created by the decisions of the UK Lib Dem Tory
Government ( and lets not forget neither of those parties were elected
to run this Country and therefore the impact of their decisions is
disproportionate considering they usurped the authority to do so.) A
labour Authority should consider all ways possible to lessen the
financial impact on household income, and not turn to those, squeezed budgets, to maintain the huge cash chomping departments of the Council, some of which, were originally set up in times of considerable state prosperity, to spend ratepayers cash which was in plentiful supply at that time from central government, always topped up of course with Caerphilly ratepayers money, the first way to do so is to go on a local authority cash income diet, not continuously find inventive ways to rob the ratepayers by increasingor creating this or that charge. Lets see some REAL corporate downsizing.
i can just imagine all main roads outside the parks when the charges are introduced. people will protest by parking outside these carparks and walking just a little further. This portentionaly could bring chaos to these roads and make them dangerous. The carpark by Pengam lights empty and the main road full of parked cars, the same goes for the road between Pen-Y-Bank and Deri and Parkways or Manmoel lane where there are entrences into Pen-Y-Fan pond.
Council may then introduce yellow lines, So what then road be full blue badge holders. caerphilly council should realise all they are doing is causing problems.
We all realise the council needs to scale back, but they must think the parks are used by a handfull of people who who only use them a couple of times when its hot. This is not the case, most people use these parks nearly every all year round in all weathers, mostly dog walkers, pensioners and disabled because it has always been a safe and affordable exersise. but not any longer charging some of our most vunerable, including disabled and pensioners anything from £7 upwards a week or asking them for a one off payment of £50 out of their pensions, BEEN SAYING FOR A LONG TIME, THERE NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TORIES AND LABOUR, People at the bottom get hit the worse while the ones at the top get pay rises.
So, the labour controlled authority, after blaming once again Tory cuts Zzzz…, have looked at all the evidence which concluded that after the initial cost of setting up the pay-and-display machines, signage, appointing wardens and taking the views of residents into consideration, this is a good way of increasing revenue to the budget? Meanwhile, Cllr Reynolds and the rest of his cronies fail to show some leadership by turning a blind eye to the 3 execs currently suspended on full pay at a cost of £30.000 a month for awarding themselves eye watering pay rises. And people still vote Labour, incredible but true.
As long as the council grab people who do not pay, this is just what we need to answer the Government in London. But regulating the Twyn car park is not quite the same as checking on country park car parks. Will that happen?
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