I agree with Andrew Thompson (Letters, August 17) and his plea for a Lib Dem re-think on parking to include their punitive doubling of charges for residents' parking permits.

I should also include the even more excessive hike in the cost of Respark visitors' permits of 150 per cent.

These charges penalise York residents, mainly those living centrally in wards such as Micklegate who have no alternative to parking near their homes, and who have, in the past, accepted the need for a "break even" charge to cover the cost of administering and enforcing the Respark schemes.

Turning these schemes into a profit-making source of income means city centre dwellers are effectively paying a flat-rate tax for where they live, in addition to the council tax.

It is for these reasons that Labour councillors have consistently campaigned and voted against the Lib Dem policies on increased parking restrictions, evening car park charges, additional on-street parking charges, and the unfair Respark increases.

We opposed them when first proposed in the Lib Dem budget this year and we proposed amendments to that budget to make the charges unnecessary.

At the July council meeting we proposed an all-embracing scrutiny review of these policies.

At each stage the Lib Dem majority on the council voted down our proposals. So, when council leader Steve Galloway seeks to blame all and sundry for the position he is now in, the people of York should remember that he and his party refused to consider any alternatives offered.

Coun Sandy Fraser,

Micklegate Ward,

Millfield Road, York.

...ONCE again car users are expecting sympathy about the threat to their considered "divine right" to park.

It should, perhaps, have been emphasised more emphatically by Coun Waudby that the local authorities are responsible for maintenance of designated highways and have a statutory obligation to clean them, including clearing drains and gullies (August 31).

Perpetual parking restricts such statutory works and the recent flooding created by surface water flooding in the Gillygate area was no doubt attributable to the restriction of cleansing operations because of parked vehicles.

In these days of litigation, perhaps the flood victims in Portland Street should consider legal action against inconsiderate car parkers.

Clair Pletts,

Middlecroft Grove,

Strensall, York.

Updated: 09:42 Friday, September 03, 2004