South Kesteven District Council's Cabinet are expected today to scrap measures to introduce Evening and Sunday parking charges in Stamford after concerns the proposal would reduce the community getting together.
Churches Together in Stamford felt charging in car parks on Sundays would reduce their congregations. It was also felt evening charges would directly affect attendance at the Arts Centre as car parks have spare capacity earlier in the week. The Cabinet is also expected to approve proposals for free parking during December on Mondays to Wednesdays in both Grantham and Stamford. Cabinet Member for Property and Public Engagement, Councillor Richard Cleaver, who also has a ward in Stamford, explains more about the proposals:
"We've had a long discussion about this over a number of months, and it's been a bit delayed because of the general election and all the rules that apply to discussing things during that time. But we've now got paper coming to cabinet on Tuesday with a recommendation that we do not proceed with evening charges and Sunday charging. I expect that will go ahead.
Obviously the charges haven't been reviewed for three years, so there will be a change in the charges within the normal charging period eight til six across the district. We've also had a review carried out by independent consultants about capacity across the district. Its recommendations were unanimously accepted by the relevant scrutiny committee a few months back.
But the bonus is that we appreciate the fact that we need to reflect the need to help people at Christmas and help our businesses at Christmas and therefore there is a proposal which should go through on Tuesday to offer three hours of free parking in every car park in the district if it's a long stay and two hours in all the short stays Mondays to Wednesdays from the beginning of December up to Christmas Eve."
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