The Labour Administration at Ipswich Borough Council has just announced that it intends to end the last area of free car parking serving the town centre. At the present time residents are able to park in parts of Fonnereau Road and Soane Street for limited periods without paying any charge. This facility is greatly welcomed by early morning swimmers at the Crown Pools and also by parents of pupils at St Margarets Primary School who transport their children to and from school.
Labour is now proposing that from January 2013 motorists will have to pay £2.90 to park for two hours in Fonnereau Road and Soane Street. Not only will this inconvenience local people it will also deter people from using town centre shops which need all the customers they can get in the current hard economic times.The Laboour Administration recently reduced parking fees at the Crown car park to support town centre businesses so why is it now introducing charges for Fonnereau Road and Soane Street which will have the opposite effect? Another case of Labour's left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing!
It is true that the Council's car parkig account is currently in deficit but the Council should be tackling this by reducing costs rather than imposing higher fees on hard pressed motorists.