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Fury as parking charges to start
Saturday 11th July 2009, 10:59AM BST.
Parking charges are to be introduced in a Black Country town, despite a 10,000 signature petition against the move.
Furious residents and traders have vowed to appeal against the decision, claiming fees could cripple Wednesbury.
But approving the move yesterday Councillor Mahboob Hussain said it he had heard “no new arguments” to make him rethink the charges of between 20p-an-hour and £1 for all day.
Ward councillor Michael Middleton said: “This is outrageous, we won’t let this happen, we will appeal.”
People spoke out against the charges at a meeting held at Sandwell Council House in Oldbury yesterday. Christine Lambert, from Sime Foundry, in Stafford Street, said she feared the charges could prompt the business to move out of town.
But Councillor Hussain, chairman of the neighbourhoods and housing committee, said the 20p-an-hour charge was still the lowest in the country. “We are the last local authority to bring in these charges,” he said.
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Totally ridiculous decision. Another move to try and cripple the people of the black country in the recession despite the fact that it is against what the public want.
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Is Councillor Mahboob Hussain a total imbecile? It sounds very obvious that this is not what the people of Wednesbury want, if he cannot do his job properly and meet the needs of the community, he should find himself a new career.
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Typical councillors, carry on with their agenda despite the 10,000 signatures against the move.
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These charges are criminal and unlawful. Again the councillors who are supposed to benefit the community just do as they please even though the people are against the move. We need to be removing parking charges in these times of recession not introducing more charges to new areas. If I run into this councillor he will certainly be getting a piece of my mind.
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I would like to tell Mr Hussain just because other local authorities introduce parking charges, that does not mean he needs to be a sheep and follow suit. And we can be assured the apparently low cost charges will only rise with time, the low cost is simply to introduce the charges. We should all get together and simply refuse to pay. Put some rubber tires around the parking meters and set them on fire, maybe then the council will realise this is not what the people want!
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I work in Wednesbury and use one of the many free car parks. If charges do come in then I will have to look closer to home as I will not pay an extra £20 – £30 a month for parking my car just to work, forget that!
Only way I will stay around is if the council send out a letter to each business stating that drivers to businesses in Wednesbury will have to apply for a free parking permit.
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I work in Wednesbury and use one of the many free car parks. I will not pay an extra £20-£30 a month for parking (If not more with how councils like to “price hike”) will probabilly be £2 or £3 a day parking knowing them!
I would sriously look closer to home if these charges come in, All business should have a letter saying how workers in Wednesbury can get a free parking permit!
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Looks like Morrison’s will monopolise on the situation but being well served by public transport will a bus ride be cheaper than parking? I doubt it.
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Anyone who can find anthing to do for longer than 1 hour in Wednesbury town centre needs to get out more.
Charity shops are in abundance and as for the market need I say more.
Wednesbury has been on a downward spiral for quite a while, parking charges will only speed up the process of pushing Wednesbury centre to become another Black Country ghost town.
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Good to see people still have faith in little old Wednesbury Town that it will save their trade if charges are dropped. Unfortunately don’t matter what you try and do to stop them it will still go ahead the same as when they closed Union Street off over 10 years ago. Traders then tried to fight the councils about predestination of Union Street but still lost.
That was what really killed Wednesbury off and nothing will change this town.
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I see these councillors are trying to use the usual tricks of their trade. They say they are introducing the lowest parking charges in the local authority, this is simply a ploy to get the parking meters up and running. We can all be assured that these lowest charges will increase and continue to increase in time. Why do they refuse to listen and take note of the opinions of the locals, the people that will be directly affected by these charges?
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The Government need to come up with a solution (very unlikely indeed). Either we pay road tax on our vehicles or we pay parking charges. One or the other, enough is enough, no more unlawful charges.
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The people vote them in, its up to the people to vote them out again…..simple!
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It’s one thing trying to say the parking charges will be the lowest in the local authority but what happens if you are 5 minutes late? A huge fine. Do not agree and do not pay, we the people are the ones with the power, these councillors and idiots in Government are nothing more than actors.
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Last time I went, Bilston parking free of charge. Better market as well.
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Dana Stevens, No 11 and Nicole No 14, exactly right once they have implemented the parking charges then they can bring in the real money spinners the Parking Wardens!!!!!!
This isn’t about raising revenue through reasonable parking charges, it’s about raising revenue through the penalty fines implemented when people can’t comply with the parking rules and regulations.
Dana Stevens, No 11, your comment “Why do they refuse to listen and take note of the opinions of the locals, the people that will be directly affected by these charges”? The answer is because the people of Sandwell like the rest of the people of the UK , don’t say anything, they are too gutless!!!!!!!
Personally I think it should be £2 and hour the same as the parking charges at the hospitals.
We have had the banking industry bringing the country to its knees by causing the worst recessions for years, the daily disclosures from our Government about MP’s collecting expenses they are not entitled too, this governments open door policy on immigration, and more close to home, Sandwell Councils decision to pour £63 million down the drain on The Public, and what have the wonderful upstanding electorate done about it??????? Absolutely Nothing!!!! They just roll over and take it all.
Fox in a Box 13 you hit the nail on the head when you said “The people vote them in, it’s up to the people to vote them out again” and that’s why our illustrious leaders laugh at us peasants and do what they want just as they are doing now.
A short while back there were elections in the UK, 33% of the eligible voting population bothered to vote, the other gutless 67% were all sitting round at home wondering what everyone else was going to do to get this country back up off its knees, so people stop moaning and accept these charges.
The people can vote in Councils and Governments, but we can’t be bothered, it’s all too much trouble to walk to a polling booth and put an X on a piece of paper.
Jim of Bearwood
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No more bogus officials in positions of power. If they can’t do the job they are paid to do, we the people need to go in and physically get them out. No more scamming the people.
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I for one encourage these charges. Anything that helps to keep cars off the road can’t be bad.
There is public transport you know.
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Number 17 – I am with you, lets form our own army and get these idiots out of office.
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I live half way between West Bromwich and Wednesbury and always used West Brom till they introduced paid parking. As soon as they introduced it, I stopped going. I moved my personal and business bank accounts to Wednesbury and switched my shopping to there as well.
If Wednesbury, no longer wants my money, thats fine, I’ll spend it somewhere else.
13 – you say we voted em in and should vote em out. Can I point out that no-one voted our Prime Minister in, and he decides when we can vote him out. Hows that fair and democratic?
All we vote for is the person who’s gonna dictate to us, forget all there pre-election promises, look after themselves and do what the hell they want. None of them are worth voting for.
In protest, I voted for the BNP in the european elections. Not because I think they’re better than the other parties, (I think they are a bunch of racist idiots), but because none of them were worth voting for and I thought the BNP had the least chance of getting in. Supposing all those people who dont normally vote had done the same as me, in protest. We could be potentially run by a bunch of racists that we cant vote out for 5 years – thats scary!
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Dave 20 – no one ever votes a prime minister in, although you could argue, for example, that voters in Sedgefield did (i.e. Tony Blair’s constituency). The basis of UK politics is that you vote for your choice of member of parliament in your local constituency – the party that has the most members of parliament voted for in this manner has the most seats and hence, elects their leader as prime minister.
I get a bit bored of people using this as an excuse – other than people living in the constituency of a party leader, who vote for this person, no-one ever has – or does. Asking how that is fair or democratic means that you are questioning the whole foundation of British politics.
This is itself is a fair question – but digresses a little from the subject of a local councillor charging 20p an hour for parking!
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Dave, doesn’t matter who you voted for, you could have voted for Noddy if you felt so inclined, what matters is that you got off your backside, you walked to a polling booth and put your X on a piece of paper, when you did that you showed the British Government that you wanted to have a voice, and you wanted to have a say in the way the country was being run, and that’s what counts.
The reason this country is fast resembling a 3rd world country is because 67% of the British people are too gutless to use their votes and they have the nerve to complain!!!!!
Jim of Bearwood
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The British electorate Jim has took it for years. The only people with big enough B*lls to do anything was the petrol blockaders a number of years ago. They did hurt the government, but only slightly.
They say we are a Bull dog nation-Yep I’ve yet to meet any!! Complain,moan and Groan and like you say take it on the chin. Vote for who? The voters have got well cheesed off with politics and thats why they don’t vote wrongly or rightly. Whoever gets in will only stuff us over exactly the same as the party before them.
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RATHER THE CCTV WAS WORKING IN THE TOWN but being as its not it wont be long before the vandals and tatters have em away then back to free parking
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