PROTESTERS concerned at a possible 220 per cent rise in the cost of residential parking permits plan to fill up Rugby Borough Council’s (RBC) car park this afternoon (Thursday September 26).
Campaign group Concerned Rugbeians Against Parking Proposals (CRAPP) are staging the peaceful protest ahead of an RBC council meeting tonight, to urge borough councillors to take their concerns to Warwickshire County Council.
Warwickshire County Council (WCC) wants to raise annual permit charges from the current £25 a year fee. It is considering two options – raising it to £80, or alternatively charging households £35 for a first permit, £55 for a second and £80 for a third.
CRAPP spokeswoman Stacey Ann Humphries told The Observer they wanted to share their parking frustrations with borough councillors.
She said: “We want to get the Borough of Rugby behind us to help us fight WCC.
“Our plan is to block the car park, as if to say ‘ how do you feel about not being able to park at your workplace or home?'”
She said many Rugbeians didn’t seem to be aware of the public consultation on the changes, which ended on Sunday (September 22).
She added: “We still feel WCC are not listening to us. They think we’ll just roll over, but there’s too many people behind us. We’re not going to give in.”
WCC says the changes are needed because the cost of running the permit scheme is not being met by current charges. But a spokesperson told The Observer its overall Civil Parking Enforcement scheme – of which residents’ permits were a part – did not operate at a loss.
The council declined however to reveal the size of the deficit generated by the permit scheme, or how much was raised through parking fines.
Four weeks ago, The Observer put in a Freedom of Information request for a breakdown of WCC’s costs and income relating to its CPE scheme.
But yesterday (September 25), on the day the council’s response was due, a WCC spokesperson said they needed more time to process it “because there is a lot of information that needs to be sourced and collated”. They added they would “try to respond by October 2.”
A report on changes to on-street parking is due to go before WCC’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee in November, and then to the council’s Cabinet early next year. The council aims to implement changes next April.
At tonight’s borough council meeting, Labour members will propose a motion to ask WCC to reconsider the changes due to a “detrimental impact on local people’s lives”.
The first of the protesters plan to arrive at the Town Hall car park between 5-5.30pm. The council meeting begins at 7pm.
Visit www.facebook.com/groups/451131655757242 for more information on CRAPP and tonight’s protest.
