Backlash grows over 'unfair' parking charge rises

Four separate petitions have been set up calling for annual fees for residents’ parking permits in Bradford to be scrapped.

The £35 charge, brought in earlier this month, is part of a series of changes to parking fees in the city, which councillors say will help raise £2.7m over the next two and half years.

Some residents, however, say they would rather scrap the schemes - which are designed to protect on-street parking spaces for permit holders - than pay.

Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe said she understood some people may feel "annoyed" but the fees had been necessitated by “severe financial pressure”.

The new charges will only be applied on renewal of a permit, the council has said.

Across Bradford there are currently about 14,000 resident and visitor permits issued, which would bring in around £500,000 a year.

Christine Fox, who lives in Bingley, said while £35 might sound “not much" she believed "we shouldn’t have to pay”.

“We already pay enough road tax and council tax and everything else, why should we have to pay to park outside our own houses?" she said.

"It's unfair. There surely must be other things they can cut back on?”

Julia Markham, who has lived in the same area for 27 years, said the permit scheme was introduced when Bradford & Bingley’s head office was located nearby but as that had closed in 2009 the scheme was "probably not even needed".

She said she thought many would rather have the scheme scrapped rather than pay for a permit, something she said would eliminate administrative costs.

Some residents are already looking to opt out, with one of the petitions calling for the scheme near Bradford Royal Infirmary to be revoked.

Geoff Winnard, Conservative councillor for Bingley, said people were “very upset” and there was a “serious chance” many more would look to overturn the schemes.

He said there were “plenty of other ways" the council could address their financial problems.

“The more they try and tax local residents, the more frustrated people will get and I think you’ll find non-payments," he said.

“They must stop treating Bingley and the surrounding villages as a cash cow.”

Responding to the criticism, Hinchcliffe said: “Parking is not free. There’s always a maintenance of car parks councils have to pay for. But if you provide that for free, then you have to charge or cut something elsewhere. So these are difficult but balanced choices we have to make all the time."

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