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Babergh District Council has voted to continue funding its public car parks from all Council Taxpayers.
At a meeting of today’s full Council, Councillors decided to continue to support the current scheme whereby motorists are able to use public car parks at no direct charge to them for up to three hours. They decided not to back a recommendation from the Strategy Committee to levy a charge of £1 per day for long stay car parks.
The deficit incurred by Babergh in running the car parks is currently £268,000 per year and is financed by Council Taxpayers.
Cllr. Sue Wigglesworth, Chairman of Babergh District Council noted that “the thoroughness and open manner of the investigations made by Councillors into the issue of car park charging. This reflects well on Babergh as a Council and shows that we are willing to listen to all views on a topic, weigh up the competing needs of different residents and come to a reasoned decision”.
“It was right and proper that this issue was considered when it was, both because of the difficult financial position that all councils find themselves in and because of the need to do justice to Babergh’s own Charging Policy which recommends that “the extent of any subsidy should be determined and charging levels should take account of “the market”, i.e. comparisons with other Local Authorities’ charges and charging policies and the willingness of users to pay for valued services””. |