Westminster conservatives are giving unclear and confusing messages over new West End parking charges, Labour councillors have claimed.
New weekend and evening parking charges are to be introduced in the West End after Christmas, as part of Westminster city council’s plans.
However, councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, leader of the Labour group at the council, has highlighted national newspaper articles that show different Tory councillors offering contradictory explanations of the parking charges.
Dimoldenberg said: “Westminster conservatives are in total disarray on the proposed evening and Sunday parking charges. Councillors Colin Barrow and Lee Rowley say the charges are ‘experimental’ and have promised a ‘review’, but no one knows what any of this means.”
He added: “They don’t appear to be saying the same thing and they are both continually changing what they say in an attempt to confuse those who stand to lose the most.”
On 4 November, Barrow was quoted in the Evening Standard. He said: “Changes [to the new parking rates] would be tweaks rather than a full-scale climbdown, even if businesses such as restaurants, bars and casinos suffer loss of business.”
However, on 17 November he did not mention “tweaks” to the same newspaper, and instead said: “These controls are being introduced on an experimental basis, allowing us to assess their impact during the 18-month experimental period, and adjust the controls accordingly.”
Dimoldenberg has written to the council’s transport office asking for more clarity on the review structure.
joanna.bourke@estatesgazette.com
