People power scuppers parking charge plan (From York Press)

People power scuppers parking charge plan

12:49pm Sunday 3rd February 2013 in News

PLANS to charge motorists for using council-run car parks across East Yorkshire have been dropped.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council began considering the idea in 2010, but more than 20,000 people signed a petition opposing it, with traders in areas such as Pocklington saying it would hit trade.

The authority agreed to postpone any introduction of charges for two years and said it would only implement them if the economy picked up sufficiently.

Following news that the economy shrank in the final quarter of 2012, council leader Stephen Parnaby said: “It does mean we will not be introducing charges any time soon.

“It’ is certainly not going to happen this year. It’s not part of our budget estimates.”

Had charging been brought in, motorists would have paid 20p for the first hour during the first year of the scheme, then 50p afterwards.

Councillors who supported the changes said they would be fairer because drivers already had to pay to use car parks in areas such as Beverley, Driffield and Bridlington.