Fury at lack of answers on car parks
A war of words between councillors has broken out after questions over car park charges in Crook were said to have fallen on deaf ears.Proposals to charge 60p for under two hours were announced last September and since then, the issue has snowballed.
Now Howden ward Cllr John Bailey is incensed by what he sees as electioneering.
He said: ³I am an elected representative and rang the council three weeks ago to speak to Bob Hope about the issue.
³I requested a phone call from Mr Hope and even called back again and I am still waiting for a reply.
³This has been going on for a while now and at the moment, with elections coming up, I cannot give people a straight answer about whether or not the charges will happen.² ³Why hasn¹t this issue been to committee yet? It¹s completely unfair to the people who live here and I want to know what¹s going on I want answers!² ³In my opinion, the car parking issue has been put on the back burner until after the May election.
³It is ridiculous to expect someone visiting the town for a newspaper or a bags of chips to pay 60p to park for five minutes!² But Cllr Stonehouse says this is nonsense and that the issue is being delayed while the future of the Council depot on Croft Street is decided.
Cllr Stonehouse said: ³Cllr Bailey is making mischief and knows the position of the issue.
³We are holding back because of the Croft Street depot and the developer¹s interest in it.
³We need to have discussions with the developer and are looking at Crook centre in a holistic way.² Graham Stevenson, Chair of the Traders Forum, is disappointed that the car parking issue has become a political scrum.
He said: ³This is a cock up not a conspiracy.
³The reason I would like clarification over the car parking issue is because we all need to work together for the benefit of the town.
³We need honest, open partnership.
³The council could tell everybody their current plans and end speculation and rumour.
³At the start of this, the council promised to take notice of the public and of local businesses.
³That is why we arranged to do a survey and even agreed a format so the questions were not leading.
³The process has come to a dead stop and the goodwill and confidence that was built up is now ebbing away quickly.
³I am not interested in the political side of things.² Mr Stevenson was sent an email explaining the council¹s stance on car parking and plans for the Croft Street site by Strategic Director for the Community, Michael Laing.
It read:³Committee on 13 December 2007 instructed officers to align the timescales of issues relating to highways, the environment and transport with proposals to redevelop the Croft Street Depot.
³As you will know the Council has a works depot at Croft Street.
³We are looking to relocate this to an out of town venue more suited to the heavy traffic that has to go through a residential area currently.
³We have had enquiries from a number of developers wanting to build on the site.
³This is such an important site for Crook. We want to tie the development brief in with car parking, footpath works and so on.
³It wouldn¹t make sense to introduce car-parking charges when Croft Street could be developed to include free car parking by a new retail business or businesses.
³Our thinking on Croft St is at an early stage and we haven¹t ruled anything out retail, commercial, industrial or residential development will all be considered.
³Until we reach a view, I think it unlikely that the decision to charge will be implemented.²