Parking charges for politicians to be reintroduced

The re-introduction of parking charges for Tynwald members is set to come into force next month, the infrastructure minister has said.

Michelle Haywood told the House of Keys a new parking policy was agreed by the Council of Ministers in March and was expected to be in place by 1 June.

Charges Tynwald were suspended along with those for senior civil servants in April 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown as many people worked from home.

Haywood said while the department had intended for the measure for politicians to come into force on 1 May it was still working through the administrative process.

The parking charges would be commercial rates, she confirmed.

Chris Thomas MHK raised concerns about the delay, and said it was "not difficult" to charge members for parking as it was not a public parking order and did not require statutory notice or consultation.

It was "just a statement" agreed that "from this date the charges will come into force," he added.

Julie Edge MHK questioned whether other members of government staff who were on similar job grades should also be paying parking charges.

But Haywood said, depending on where staff were working, there was "usually parking freely available" and so it would be "unfair to impose charges based on job grades".

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