“How do you attract more people into the town centre and other areas to do their shopping? The Labour Party answer is to drastically increase the cost of parking for shoppers.” so says Liberal Democrat Councillor Sid Rutstein.

At their Executive meeting on Monday 12 November, Labour councillors voted to increase short stay parking charges by up to 55%. So parking in the town centre and in shopping areas in High Town and Bury Park will cost much more from next April.

“Attracting more shoppers into the town centre and to local shopping areas is critical to the commercial success of the town. It makes no sense, therefore, to penalise the people who provide the vibrancy and vitality to the town.

The previous Liberal Democrat administration recognised this and avoided increasing parking charges for short period parking last year for precisely this reason.” says Cllr Rutstein