Pay per view?
From October Gloucestershire County Council is planning to start charging people to park at Crickley Hill and after listener calls of disgust we put your thoughts to John Lane, who's the Principle Rights of Way Officer.
He explained that the money raised was for the upkeep of the car park and toilets, but some of your views didn't sympathise...
*John in Cheltenham says of course you should pay for parking, you have to pay parking anywhere popular you go, he has to pay for hospital parking or town parking in Cheltenham.
*Don in Cheltenham asks how can they maintain the toilets on Crickley Hill when they can't even maintain the toilets in Gloucester City Centre!
*Ed in South Cerney says if you have to pay for parking, does this mean that if you have an accident you could claim from the Council.
*Colin in Ruspidge says if you go to Symonds Yat Rock you have to £2 for a days parking, someone has to look after and pay to keep the places tidy, so why not the people who use them?
*Kirsten in Tewkesbury asks will the parking charges at Crickley Hill will stop all the doggers? Why don't they just charge for the toilets?
*James in Southam says if you don't pay you may lose the services, they lost the toilets at Cleeve because they couldn't afford them?
*Basil thinks it's disgusting and one day we'll have to pay to breathe!
*Julie thinks it's a dismal idea, she thought the land was owned by the countryside commission. What right have they to do this? How long before the trend extends to other areas of natural beauty? People will just park further away on the roads and walk to the park.
*Bob in Rodborough wants to know how the Council are going to regulate it? will they have a parking inspector? Won't all the profits just go to paying staff and admin?
*Liz on email explained I would have said a £1 a car for use of Crickley Hill country park would be fine, except my husband has just been put on short hours causing us great financial hardship and is facing the possibility of redundancy, in which case every single £1 will be important, so it'll be tough to justify going there.
Thanks for your input and thoughts over the last 3 weeks. Make sure you join Mark when he returns from his holidays on Monday at 6am.
Best Wishes
Steve Kitchen
Hi, I'm Mark Cummings. Every day I explore all things Gloucestershire on my breakfast show. The stories, the people, the history, the news - the complete package of what makes the county tick. On the show, and on this blog, we share our knowledge, stories and experiences to celebrate life in Gloucestershire.
Comment number 1.
At 6th Sep 2010, Nigel wrote:If the money raised from charging for parking is ring-fenced so that it can only be used for the upkeep of that site, then I have no objection to paying. It is worth paying a little bit to keep the toilet facilities there and for the car park area to be maintained.
However, if it goes into the general pot and isn't spent at Crickley Hill, then I object most strongly.
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