Another resident questions parking permit increase

RESIDENTS of Warminster Road are still challenging the increase in parking permit charges by Wiltshire Council in Westbury car parks. 

In January this year, Warminster Road resident Joanna Howes wrote to Wiltshire councillor Gordon King to express her criticism of Wiltshire Council increasing her parking permit from £26 a month to £43 to park in the Warminster Road car park.  In reply, the councillor described it as an ‘unaffordable injustice’. 

Four months later, another Warminster Road resident, Pat Harper, has written to the White Horse News sharing the same frustrations. 

She says, “I have lived in Warminster Road in Westbury for over 40 years now.  My house is an older terraced property, and as such, has no vehicular access.  This has never really been an issue for me as I have, at various times throughout my occupancy, been able to park in the car park of the public house opposite (now demolished to make room for the Aldi supermarket) or recently in the public car park in Warminster Road.

“I have been working in an office all my life, which  worked out well as far as the car park was concerned, as I would leave for work around 7.30am and arrive home after 5pm, so the only parking fees I needed to pay was for the weekend, which I was happy to do.

“I have now retired, and decided to apply for a residents’ parking permit for the public car park, as my car is obviously, going to be in said car park for longer periods of time.  

“I was horrified to find that the residents’ parking is no longer applicable for this car park, and that if I wish to purchase a season ticket, it will cost in excess of £500 until September this year, when it will  rise to over £700 per annum.  That is almost equal to one month’s pension!

“How am I – as a pensioner – expected to meet this cost?  What has happened to residents’ parking, and how can this action be fair?  I am currently having to on-street park wherever possible, but this is not ideal, as I can end up quite a distance from home, and could possibly be causing a “knock-on” effect for people living in the surrounding streets.

“I understand that the councils are all suffering cutbacks, and have to raise money wherever possible, but surely these hikes in charges are too extreme for most people to be able to pay.  What happens if the household has more than one vehicle?  Warminster Road isn’t a particularly affluent area, and most residents just cannot afford this huge cost.  

“Surely lowering the cost, and thereby getting more people to apply for permits, is better than setting this exorbitant increase, that no-one can afford to pay?”

In response to Joanna Howes initial complaint, a  Wiltshire Council spokesperson said, “Before prices were increased, the charge for a season ticket in the Warminster Road car park was 21% of the daily rate. We have increased the charges to £45 per month which represents 36% of the daily rate and still offers considerable savings compared with paying the full daily charge. Many other authorities offer a discount for a season ticket of between 20% and 25%.

 “As a result of the consultation last year, we listened to people who said that reducing the discount from around 75% to 50% was too much in one go, so we decided to split that increase over two years. There will therefore be a further increase in November 2019 to bring all season ticket prices up to 50% of the daily rate. That remains a generous discount when compared with other authorities.”