Labour councillors have vowed to scrap unfair permit fees after the Council’s final Executive Committee of the term upheld the decision to charge for permits in residential parking zones.
The council plans to charge residents to park outside their own homes
The controversial charges are to be imposed after a consultation forced residents to choose between accepting a fee or being left with no permit scheme at all. The status quo, permit zones free of charge to residents, was excluded from the consultation.
Labour candidates standing in May’s council elections will stand on a clear policy of scrapping unfair permit charges.
The fee was originally to be set at £20 per permit but was reduced to £10 after an outcry from affected residents, many fearing the fee will increase in future years, and opposition from Labour councillors.
Resident only parking areas are an attempt to stop drivers who are visiting town centres from parking in nearby residential areas and can be found throughout South Lanarkshire in East Kilbride, Hamilton, Carluke, Cambuslang, Uddingston and Rutherglen.
East Kilbride resident Carol Ramsay, who lives in Lairhills in The Murray, started a petition opposing the move and old The East Kilbride News:
It’s an absolute nonsense, the Council are issuing a levy to park at your own home.
All I want to do is park outside the front of my house like everyone else in the town, so why should I be any different?
This is a direct result of the town centre car parks and various methods of car park charges being sold off.
The council want us to pay for the administration of a scheme they have had to create as a result of this.
Councillor Gerry Convery says “Every vote for Labour in this May’s local elections is a vote to scrap unfair and indiscriminate permit charges in our communities.”
Councillor Gerry Convery, Deputy Leader of South Lanarkshire Labour, said:
The Council’s consultation did not ask residents whether they preferred to maintain the status quo and keep permit zones free of charge.
The option residents have been contacting their councillors to demand is the option the SNP Council and their supporters in other parties will not consider.
A charge has been cynically imposed on permit holders and only Labour is standing against it.
Residents do not believe the charge is fair and do not believe this charge will remain £10 per permit in future.
The SNP broke their promise to oppose permit charges and it would come as no surprise if they were to break their promise to keep charges at £10.
This issue is more than a question of cost, it is a question of trust.
Labour candidates standing in May’s council elections will stand on a clear policy of scrapping unfair permit charges.
Every vote for Labour in this May’s local elections is a vote to scrap unfair and indiscriminate permit charges in our communities.
Although council standing orders mean the decision cannot be overturned for six months, Labour have vowed to do so if they win back control of South Lanarkshire Council at the local elections on May 5th.
The new charges take effect from 1st April and permits must be renewed every two years.
17th March 2022
