"Charge the Council Bosses!" say the Liberal Democrats

10.14.56am GMT Tue 13th Mar 2007

Councillor Richard Church, Leader of the Liberal Democrat County Councillors has called upon the County Council to charge leading Councillors and Senior Staff who bring gas guzzling cars into the County Council's Car Park at County Hall and other county buildings.

"It is all very well charging for Residents Parking Permits on an environmental basis that the more emissions the car emits, the more is charged for car parking, but the same should apply to the executive staff using the county's staff car parks as well as the local resident in a terraced street who has to pay to park near to where they live." says Richard. "What is sauce for the goose, should be sauce for the gander, executives and council leaders with big petrol consuming cars can afford to pay more" he added.

Whilst the Lib Dems support the principle of Environmental Charges for car parking, they believe that local residents should not be penalized for living in houses that do not have parking spaces. They believe that there should be a basic low annual charge for one residents car parking permit pass per house, with increases for a second and subsequent car. In a household where there are more than one car, the car with the lowest emissions would be the one for the low cost parking permit.