Shropshire Council urged to drop parking fees

Angry civic leaders today called on Shropshire Council to suspend controversial car parking charges in all north Shropshire towns after it emerged Whitchurch had escaped the fees.

On Friday, new car parking charges are set to be introduced in Wem, Ellesmere and Market Drayton - but not at Whitchurch, where the charges are being suspended.

This is until the new car park opens in Mill Street to boost parking capacity in the town.

The reprieve comes after town and unitary councillors in Whitchurch lobbied Shirehall for a temporary suspension of the charges.

But now the mayors of Wem and Market Drayton have called for all the market towns in north Shropshire to be exempted from the charges until Whitchurch's new car park is up and running.

Councillor Mandy Meakin, Mayor of Wem, said: "Shropshire Council is not treating the family fairly.

"If you're buying sweets for the children, you buy sweets for all of them, not just some of them."

Councillor Meakin added: "I'm very, very unhappy about this situation. I think it's naughty for them to say they are taking a 'consistent' approach to this issue when something like this happens.

"Now I want Wem exempted from the charges for as long as Whitchurch is."

Councillor Roger Smith, Mayor of Market Drayton, said: "Considering these charges were supposed to be for everybody, I feel it seems rather unjust to let one town off the hook."

Former Ellesmere mayor, Councillor Brian Knight, said: "If Whitchurch has won a reprieve for the car parking charges for the time being, I feel the rest of the market towns should be treated the same."

Shropshire Council has not given a timescale for the creation of a new car park in Whitchurch, but today said it would not give the other towns a reprieve.

Councillor Martin Taylor-Smith, its cabinet member for transport and IT, said: "An agreement was reached to hold the charges in Whitchurch because we recognise the shortage of appropriate parking space in the town.

"We did consider doing the same in Wem and Market Drayton but felt there was no real justification."

By Tom Johannsen