The map circulated by the council last week clearly shows just a small section of parking bays recommended for charges, and the key attached confirms this as the only location where parking charges are proposed. Nowhere in the plan is there any indication of proposed parking charges elsewhere.
However, I've found out today that the plan was incorrect and had been circulated in error.
By way of an update on latest developments I’ve had a conversation this afternoon with an officer who only now has told me that at this stage the proposals circulated are for consultation with transport and emergency service teams only, with the intention of holding a public consultation exercise afterwards. In that regard the proposals remain just that for the time being.
In addition, the council has admitted that the plan circulated last week was inaccurate and misleading in that it does not actually show where they were proposing to introduce parking charges. As you can see from the key in the attached image the plan indicates that the council was proposing parking charges at a small section at the northern edge only, and nowhere else.
Personally I find it astonishing that the council has circulated incorrect information on its proposals, and I know that our residents feel duped and let down after being led to believe that the Coalition running the council had dropped its damaging plans to introduce parking charges at Crimdon, something that as local members Stacey and I have campaigned against from the start.
There have been a lot of misleading and confusing communications recently, including proposed highway repairs at Castle Eden and the pit heap appeal process at Hesleden, so I think it’s vital that the Coalition comes clean with the public about what they really propose to do at Crimdon.
As things stand I have real misgivings about the way that DCC, under Coalition control, communicates with the public and local members so I've urged them to be absolutely clear in any further communications on this matter. Only when members of the public are made fully aware of the council's real intentions can they properly raise their concerns or make their comments.
PLEASE NOTE: it is vital that as many people as possible respond to the consultation as soon as it’s announced. In the meantime there are contact details for the council shown in the article published on these pages on Friday 26 April.