A petition opposing the introduction of annual charges for residential parking permits in Lindley has been signed by over 500 residents.

Lib Dem Councillor Cllr Cahal Burke who organised the petition presented it to decision makers at the meeting of Kirklees Cabinet.

Cllr Burke spoke against the Labour plans on behalf of residents which he describes as “unfair” and “victimising people based on where they happen to live”.

Cllr Burke said:

“Like residents living on the roads near to Huddersfield Royal I am first and foremost against this policy. It is unfair to choose to charge some people for the ability to park outside their own homes based on where they happen to live. If the Council needs to generate income, it needs to focus its attention on others areas of enforcement such as misuse of bus lanes, fly-tipping and littering.

“If the Cabinet forces it through they should exempt roads near the HRI due to the unique situation residents find themselves in, living next to Huddersfield’s largest 24/7 , 7 day a week front line public sector service provider. In addition, all vulnerable residents across the whole of Kirklees should certainly be exempt, full stop. Forcing a charge for visitor permits on the elderly, disabled or ill would encourage social isolation and increase the risk of injury and death. It would also make the jobs of social care providers, carers and family members much harder and we, as a council, need to do all we can to support these people.”

“I am very concerned about the Cabinet’s approach to coming up with this policy. They say that they need to recoup £160k a year admin but they aren’t they looking at ways to bring that cost down so they don’t have place a burden on residents in the first place.
There are other options and the fact that they are not being considered points to a lack of creativity on behalf of the Cabinet and that it is a policy purely about brining in revenue which I am against”.

http://kirkleeslibdems.org.uk/en/petition/no-to-parking-permit-charges