Ever since they took control of the Cotswold District Council in 2019, the LibDems seem to be waging war against cars and their drivers. The first attack was a 35% increase in parking charges introduced just before Christmas in 2020. Despite a large number of petitioners asking for the increase to be scrapped or at least deferred to after Christmas, their pleas went unanswered.
The second manoeuvre was to remove the cash payment option for parking; you could only pay via your smart phone or card. Due to the poor performance of the machines when paying by card this has been delayed, but they have now agreed to spend a further £125,000 on new machines which will be quicker with cards but DO NOT accept cash.
In the 2022 budget a further 5% increase in the charges was introduced and a little later the ‘Free after Three’ parking was removed, and now they’re looking to earn a further £165,000 from yet another increase!
Of course there’s also the fiasco of the new car park at the rugby ground, created at a cost of some £400,000 for displaced annual permit holders and never reviewed when the multi-storey car park was deferred. Leading to it not being used at all!
The Conservatives have opposed all of these changes and will review the whole subject if you return us to run the Council in May next year.