Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
#1
Councils set to reveal parking income:
Eric Pickles has announced that councils will have to disclose how much money they make from parking charges. He wants to extend the Coalition's transparency agenda so taxpayers can see how much is raised from every parking zone in England.
It is estimated that drivers paid a record £1.3bn in fees last year, a figure Mr Pickles describes as a "huge shopping tax". It is noted that a recent survey revealed seven out of ten people intentionally avoided shopping areas with extortionate parking charges, while 66% said they would return to the high street if charges were more affordable.
The Communities Secretary hopes the move will lead to a revival of town centres - but do you think it will ? Will it help Dover ?
Source: The Sunday Telegraph, Page: 2 Sunday Express, Page: 8 The Sun, Page: 19
Roger
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,948
#2
and where the dosh goes hopefully to
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Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#3
Precisely where the money goes, Keith...again hopefully.
I can join Mr. Pickles in his railing at the "huge shopping tax", but huge-shops have something to do with it too. Most of all, I and he do not have the job of making ends meet at Local Council level.
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#4
should councils reduce in town parking charges they would have to recoup the money somewhere else.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#5
That is the common argument Howard.
Yet,
Do empty shops attract the same taxation as occupied ones?
Does paying for a parking permit to keep a car on the street guarantee a parking space? Does it do the least service for improved public transport?
Is it not a chicken-and-egg situation,
You must have a car because;-
-public transport is so bad,
-shopping is all out-of-town.
Does it not irk, that you despair at the run-down nature of a town centre, but must shop elsewhere?
Is the squeezed-middle not getting it the neck, yet again, by subsidising council-tax through parking charges?
Mr. Pickles is, of course, having his cake and eating it. Considering what little a local planning dept. can do to prevent out-of-town shopping developments.
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
#6
The problem is this:
If you are lucky enough to live in a place where public transport is good and don't need to carry lots of stuff around, owning a car is really optional. The cost of regular train or bus use, plus occasional car hire, can compare favourably with the total cost of car ownership.
But:
There are many reasons people actually need a car (as opposed to having a choice in the matter).
1. You have a business and need to transport goods or people on a regular basis.
2. You live in a village where public transport is poor. e.g. in our village there are no buses on Sundays, and the nearest shop is 3 miles away.
3. Your job requires it.
Once you own a car, the marginal cost of additional use is a fraction of the cost of public transport so you are going to use the car for everything. Examples: To get two of us from Eythorne to Dover and back on the bus costs over £8. Using the car, the fuel cost is under £3. For two of us to travel weekly between Dover and Farnham on the train, to fit in with our working hours, is £85 return (cheapest on thetrainline.com advance purchase) and takes 3 1/2 hours each way. In the car we can do it in an hour and 40 minutes each way for £26 worth of fuel. The cost of an on-street parking permit in Farnham is £50 a year or £1 a week, i.e. peanuts.
Even making no allowance for the time saved, the accumulated savings from using the car vs public transport (for essential use) are therefore ample to cover the entire running costs of the vehicle and the more discretionary use you make of it, the greater the savings are. And once you have a car, and are going to use it, the choice between going to a free out-of-town supermarket car park or paying £2.40 for 2 hours in the town centre becomes a no-brainer.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson