Political Opinion: Conservatives ready to offer free parking in Northampton town centre

We have trialled offers at Christmas and other key periods, with limited success, however with investment coming into the town for Four Waterside and the Greyfriars area, and a stable financial position for the Council we believe that now is the time to implement a more consistent offer of time-limited free parking in the town centre.

For some time we have been working on a means of delivering free parking for Northampton shoppers by making better use of our car parks that aren't always filled. Unlike plans recently put forward by Labour which would cost taxpayers over half a million pounds a year, our proposals would ensure that we stay within budget while providing the offer that visitors to Northampton and local businesses have been requesting.

People will understandably ask why it has taken Conservative administrations at WNC and the old Borough Council until now to make this offer, but the reality is that in the world of local government every penny matters. In the past, car parking has provided a steady stream of income that has plugged the gap between what the Council needs to spend on services and what it receives from government and through Council tax. Now, after securing key investments in Northampton and stabilising the Council's finances we are confident that we can make an offer that will result in many people staying for longer than the two-hour free period, which which will allow us to cover the costs of providing free parking to other visitors.

Northampton councillors from my own Conservative group have consistently advocated for an offer of this nature to help address the disparity between having free parking in the smaller towns but none in Northampton. These proposals therefore help to partly equalise the offer while protecting the smaller economies in those market towns.

Under a Conservative administration, people will be able to nip into town to visit the market or have lunch, do a bit of shopping at the Grosvenor Centre, and not have to worry about the need to pay to park. But unlike opposition proposals, they will also know that the offer is being made while carefully balancing the books and ensuring that we never find ourselves in a position where we have to go cap in hand to the government to ask for massive tax hikes.

Make no mistake, this is the new reality of local government - Bradford Council (Labour) is being allowed to increase its bills by 10%, while Newham (Labour) and Windsor & Maidenhead (Lib Dem) will both be allowed a 9% rise. Birmingham (Labour), Somerset (Lib Dem) and Trafford (Labour) will be allowed to up their bills by 7.5%. Up and down the country, ordinary people are paying the price of councillors' profligacy and their pedalling of retail policies that simply cost taxpayers too much money. We cannot let the same happen in West Northamptonshire.