Mid Sussex District Council To Hike Car Parking Charges By 33% !!!

Dear oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear, as the Chuckle Brothers would say.

During these much maligned tough economic times where local traders are struggling and the consumer has less money in their pocket, what do the council go and do? Raise the price to park your car in their Car Parks by up to 33%!!!

From July 1st, the cost to park for 1 hour will rise from 60p to 80p. The cost of parking for two hours will go up from £1 to £1.20.

The council think that they could generate an additional revenue of between £100k - £202k p.a
This information is available in the 2012-13 Mid Sussex Corporate Plan and Budget (page 15)

Quite frankly, this decision is absolutely MENTAL. Yes, it's only 20p more, but its not just about the cost - It flies in the face of the council claiming to be helping the local traders where possible and to bring more people into the towns. They even think they are doing us a favour by rising the price below the rate of inflation! (more on their deceiving figures another time)

Let's see. Tesco were essentially told to withdraw their expansion plan as it would not be good for the town centre. The council wish to see Burgess Hill town centre thrive. Yet these increases in parking are surely going to see people using Tesco more often. Making the journey to Crawley where better shopping facilities are available will also prove even more tempting.

What about the local traders? They can't be happy with the news. Although they may not even know yet!

There is also a major problem with commuters and shoppers chosing to park in residential roads, snubbing the already overpriced authority controlled car parks. These price increase are surely going to make the problem worse and not better?

Every way you look at it, this decision is wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong,

@chris_french @burgesshillnewsThose rises are the exact opposite of what local people said they would like to see.#notlistening

— Chris Jerrey (@chrisjerrey) May 16, 2012

@chrisjerrey @chris_french @burgesshillnews all MSDC are concerned about is the revenue, not what people want, not the onstreet parking

— Charlotte Jones (@charlottejones0) May 16, 2012

Got an opinion on this story? Leave a comment below.....
Are the council wrong to be raising the cost of parking in the district's car parks? Will this cause even more parking in residential roads? How are these rises going to help local traders survive? Why don't the council display common sense and listen to the people for once?!