Andrew Dismore

PRESS RELEASE: IMMEDIATE: 31/1/12

Local Government minister denounces excessive parking charges

During Communities Department question time in the Commons on 30th January, Conservative local government minister Grant Shapps MP has sharply criticized town centre parking charges (see Hansard below)

Andrew Dismore, Labour London Assembly candidate for Barnet said:

“Grant Shapps is yet another in the long list of Conservative high-ups who have challenged councils like Barnet who have been racking up parking charges with no regard for the impact on local businesses and the local economy.
For once, I find myself agreeing with a Tory minister. I don’t propose to make a habit of it, but when one says something that is so blindingly obvious to all except Brian Coleman, it would be wrong not to do so.
It is a pity for our long suffering shopkeepers and residents that despite this clear attack on what he is doing, Cllr Coleman remains impervious to what his own ministers are telling him, along with virtually every small business and trader in Barnet.

It is also a pity that it took the Conservative MP for Nuneaton to raise the issue: just where were Barnet’s Tory MPs this time?”

Hansard
Mr Jones: Excessive car parking charges are a tax on our town centres and high streets. Does my right hon. Friend believe that the implementation of free control parking schemes in many of our town centres would
put us on a level playing field with out-of-town stores and therefore start to rejuvenate our town centres and high streets?

Grant Shapps: My hon. Friend is right. Key is ensuring that local and sensible plans are in place to ensure that people can arrive at a town centre, shop and not be exposed to unreasonable charges. I encourage all local authorities to think about their local economy—something that should be much easier to do when they know that they are going to be keeping the business rates in future.