Kirklees residents and visitors are set for a parking price hike as an increase in charges has been given the green light.
At a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday 8 October 8 plans were approved to increase the cost of residential parking permits from a one-off £15 payment to a £35 annual charge.
Visitor permit charges will also be rising, with a £60 yearly fee to be paid, where previously a single permit was free. New costs will also be introduced at 15 of the borough’s free car parks.
Jamie Ellison, Chair of the Town estate and Springbank estate tenants and residents’ association voiced his dissatisfaction. He said residents living near John Smith’s Stadium were being “punished” and described the council’s approach as “petty penny-pinching”.
He said: “We only have the problems on match days and concert events and due to the council benefitting by millions at the expense of some of the most vulnerable people in Kirklees and some of the poorest people in Kirklees who do depend on their cars – I know some taxi drivers won’t come near the estate if there’s a match on – these people are already struggling to afford to live on a daily basis.”
Mr Ellison said parking permits did not guarantee a space for residents and spoke of the “chaos” that would be caused if the council moved forward with plans for virtual permits.
Dalton ward councillor Mus Khan had also raised the issue, saying there should be “special considerations” in this case. She felt “restitution is owed” to these residents, when the council has profited significantly from the use of the stadium.
Cabinet Member for Environment and Highways, Cllr Munir Ahmed, explained that the matter has been discussed with officers who would be ‘looking into it’ further.
Also speaking against the parking permit fee hike was Greenhead resident, Amanda Gray, who said that an increase would effectively be a “breach of contract” between the council and residents who had already made their £15 one-off payment.
She said, “You’ve got a section of your Kirklees community that are easily identifiable, you’ve already got us on a database, and you’re able to then impose a new parking tax just because you need the money. Not everybody can afford it.”
Ms Gray also joked about how a new permit could be brought in for parking instructors who teach students to park on her street “extremely slowly”, blocking the street. She said, “If you ask them politely to move on you get a mouthful of abuse, so now they’re teaching those students road rage and bad behaviour, as well as teaching them that parking in a permit zone when you do not have a permit is perfectly okay, when quite frankly it is not.
“So, perhaps you might want to make a Kirklees-wide permit for driving instructors, say, a couple of thousand pounds, and then you can re-invest that for parking permits for carers!”
Also approved at the meeting were new fees for 15 car parks across Kirklees’ towns and villages that are currently free, as can be seen in the table below. Previously, the council had planned to roll out charges across 57 car parks but had ‘paused’ the plans for review and subsequently scaled them back.
Councillor Munir Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Environment and Highways said, “Thousands of local residents responded to public consultations on both parking proposals. In light of this feedback, one of our first decisions as a new cabinet was to pause the initial proposals and conduct a thorough review.
“Parking charges have remained static for the last 14 years. Unfortunately, the current financial climate means the council is no longer able to sustain the price freeze.
“But we’ve listened to concerns, and we think the new plans are proportionate and fairer for residents and businesses.
“The proposed introduction of parking fees and increases to residential permits are not decisions we take lightly and it’s important we balance the financial needs of the council whilst taking into consideration local views.”
