Paul de Kort, Liberal Democrat Leader and St Albans and District Council and Harpenden Councillor has been attacked on social media for his Council's introduction of the recent parking charges on Harpenden's High Street. A local resident spotted that Cllr de Kort has shown great interest in banning cars from High Streets around Europe, reposting and liking a number of posts showing before and after pictures of High Streets in European cities when cars were allowed and after they were banned. Is Cllr de Kort's interest in making High Streets car free spaces really what drove the recent introduction of parking charges in Harpenden?
The Liberal Democrats have attempted to excuse their introduction of parking charges. They first said it was to promote 'active travel', that is, forcing people to walk or cycle into Harpenden. Looking at the huge reduction in footfall in the Town and the consequent reduction in many of the local retailers income, that does not seem to have worked. Then they said it was to ensure the availability of parking spaces. Cars could only wait for two hours before charges were introduced and they can still only wait for two hours, so that seems logically incorrect. However, anyone going into Harpenden recently will be struck by the number of empty parking bays. Perhaps they have achieved their objective by pricing out less affluent residents and only making parking available to those with deeper pockets? Finally, they said it was to make up the financial shortfalls in their budgets. Granted, the Liberal Democrats have wasted millions of pounds of taxpayers money since they took office six years ago. From £12M overruns on key projects to spending £172K on one hole on a golf course, their profligacy seems to know no bounds. Given the parking budget is ring fenced, they cannot use parking monies on anything other than parking and a review of the parking budget shows that they currently make a loss on parking around the District. So, are they introducing parking charges to make up for their poor management? Or is it really idealogically driven by Cllr de Kort and his colleagues to move towards a car free Harpenden?
Local residents and retailers overwhelming opposed the parking charges. The Lib Dems ignored them. It is having a disastrous impact on local businesses, who are reporting that revenues have declined sharply following the parking charge introduction. The Lib Dems continue to ignore them. Does it take the closure of High St businesses for the Lib Dems to reverse this unfair and unwanted tax?
https://stalbanstimes.co.uk/?s=harpenden+parking&id=20011
