At last night's Full Council meeting at Surrey Heath Borough Council (Wednesday 18th September), two petitions were brought before the Council calling for a review on the punitive increase in parking charges which were approved by the Lib Dem Executive in February 2024, and implemented on 1st April 2024.
As per the Council’s constitution, when a public petition receives 250 or more signatures, the petition is referred to Full Council. The petitions call for a review of the car parking charges and the stricter time limits imposed to be dropped.
In addition to the debate on the petitions, the appointment of a new Monitoring Officer and Head of Legal Services at Surrey Heath Borough Council were approved by Councillors.
Commenting, Cllr Jonny Cope, St. Paul's Ward, said:
"Last night’s meeting was mainly focused on the Council’s recent controversial decision to increase parking charges across our Borough. A resident-led petition, signed by many people across Surrey Heath, triggered a debate on the issue.
"The Council’s administration put forward a motion (with no advance warning) which thanked the petitioners for raising the issue but stated they would just continue with their current strategy. I felt this was a bit dismissive and could not support it.
"An (in my view) sensible amendment put down by a Labour councillor and supported by Conservative and Independent councillors which called for the usage of car parks and the increase of price increases on local businesses to be reviewed and monitored at regular intervals. However, the Liberal Democrats on the Council voted this down - for reasons which genuinely weren’t clear to me!
"However, the thing that concerned me most about the debate was that Liberal Democrat councillors repeatedly referred to data on car park usage which councillors of other parties had not had the opportunity to see. It is impossible to hold the Council leadership to account if data is withheld in this way.
"Unfortunately there is, in my view, a continuing trend of the Council’s leadership not being transparent and avoiding accountability through withholding information.
"There was very little else on the agenda at the meeting beyond an important, but fairly straightforward, approval of a new monitoring officer and head of legal.
"This was the first meeting since former Liberal Democrat council group leader Sashi Mylvaganam had crossed the floor to join us in the Conservative group, which I think did make the atmosphere sadly a bit more partisan than it often is. Sashi did make a brief statement outlining his reasons for joining the Conservatives and why he felt let down and misled by the current council leadership.
"Finally, it was confirmed this week that there will be a council by-election in Old Dean ward on Thursday 24th October. This is triggered by my colleague Lewis Mears sadly leaving us to pursue an exciting career opportunity overseas. Lewis has been a great asset to the Council during his time representing Old Dean and will be missed."
