Council urged to reveal Northampton town centre parking plans

One of the headline items in the budget is a proposed increase in car parkingincome of £625,000.

This represents over 15 per cent of the car parking income so, Councillor Sally Beardsworth (Lib Dem, Kingsthorpe) says there ought to be a detailed plan as to how this increased income is going to be achieved.

Councillor Beardsworth said “This seems to be fantasy budgeting. Despite asking lots of questions we cannot see how this is a deliverable proposal."

No new charges for multi-storey or off-street parking have been announced so it is not yet clear how the increased income will be generated.

Councillor Beardsworth said despite asking questions, she and her liberal democrat colleagues could only speculate.

She said: “The Conservatives can’t tell us whether they intend to make a 15 per cent increase across all of the current parking charges over a 12-month period or whether they intend to do away with the current free two-hour parking period in the multi storey car parks”.

Cllr Brian Markham (Liberal Democrat Finance Spokesperson) said “I am sure the public will question the sense of pushing up car park charges when so many shops are struggling in the town centre."