WESTBURY town councillors have been angered by a £750 charge which Wiltshire Council has imposed for the six weeks of the new Westbury Market.
Wiltshire Council has made the charge for ‘parking enforcement’ but town councillors are writing to complain, saying the charges are ‘unreasonable’.
Members of the town council’s events working group requested a letter is sent to Wiltshire Council, saying the High Street parking spaces are normally free for 20 minutes for people to use and the town council already pays in excess of £35,000 a year to provide two-hour free car parking periods in Westbury’s public car parks.
At their recent meeting, committee members said they understood the cost is for parking enforcement (signage was put up), but felt that when the town council is fighting hard to increase footfall and establish a new market to benefit business and residents, the cost was unreasonable.
Cllr Hamilton-Sheen suggested bringing to a future meeting that in situations like this, if the council has to pay, can it ask for something in return, for example for Wiltshire Council to repaint the road signage as the disabled road markings have faded.
