Campaign against on-street parking fees
A campaign is being pushed to stand against on-street parking fees when buses are not running.
The news comes after a protestors took to the streets to demand that controversial new parking charges for Shropshire towns be dropped last week.
The protestors, led by former Shrewsbury mayor Jane Mackenzie, claimed planned changes will force most motorists to pay more – and that it will be businesses across the county that will end up suffering.
Councillor Mackenzie said: "Following on from our protest, we are pushing the 'no bus, no fee' campaign.
"This is based on the fact that the officer in charge of implementing the car parking increases has said that the on-road charges are especially high to push people towards using buses to get into town.
"I think that the logical conclusion of this line of thought, is that when the buses aren't running, there should be no car parking fee.
"This would be after 6pm every day, all day Sunday and on bank holidays.
"Hence #nobusnofee."
Cabinet members agreed earlier this year that parking and permits across the county would follow a linear tariff, with all car parks and on-street provision sorted into seven bands.
Under the new parking strategy people will still have a 15 minute "pop and shop" period.
Legally people have a 10-minute grace period when they park. Currently Shropshire Council allows 15 minutes on top of that.
Under the new strategy, this will be reduced to five minutes on top of the statutory 10 minutes – so people will still have 15 minutes to "pop and shop".
The charges for each car park in the county will be different, depending on where it is and the demand for spaces.
The cheapest, band seven, includes a car park in Clun where all parking will be free. In contrast, band one charges including on-street parking in Shrewsbury will be £2.50 for every hour. Band two car parks will charge £1.80 an hour, band three is £1, band four 70p, band five 50p and band six 30p per hour.
News of the changes, which will be brought in next month, was met with dismay by business leaders, shopkeepers and motorists, who say most will pay more.
