Car park fee fury rises

More than 1,000 people have signed a petition objecting to plans to introduce charges in part of Llanfyllin's main car park.

Powys County Council's proposal to introduce pay and display charges into more of its car parks, including Llanfyllin, has been met with amazement by locals.

For while part of the car park is owned by the county, the rest is owned by Llanfyllin Town Council, which has vowed to keep its share free.

At a town council meeting yesterday, Councillor Peter Lewis, county council member for Llanfyllin division, showed councillors a petition signed by more than 1,000 people, protesting against car park charges.

He said he would take the petition to the county council to demonstrate the strength of feeling locally against the proposal.

"The people of Llanfyllin must be congratulated for doing so well in collecting names for the petition," he said.

He said he was also concerned about the decision not to charge for parking in nearby Llansantffraid.

"Apparently there are not enough spaces in its car park, yet it has more spaces than the number of county council spaces in Llanfyllin," he said.

Critics have previously described the proposal to charge for parking for only one half of the car park as "ridiculous". They claim the proposal is unworkable and could end up turning Llanfyllin into a ghost town in the wake of the current economic crisis.

Town councillors have repeatedly stressed they will not be imposing charges for their half of the car park. They are worried any new charge would discourage visitors from stopping in the town.

Despite the opposition, county council bosses said they are continuing to investigate the proposal as part of a budget decision to increase car park revenue by £100,000 throughout Powys.

After the meeting, Councillor Lewis said strength of feeling against the proposal was continually growing, and added: "The consultation period starts next month and we have 20 days to make our feelings known."

By Sue Austin