At their meeting on Monday 21st May, Mendip District Council’s Cabinet decided to endorse the Car Parking Charges Review 2018-22, including new Sunday parking charges in Frome and Shepton Mallet, and increases to hourly charges and season tickets – see here.

I and Damon Hooton (Lib Dem, Park ward) and other Frome councillors opposed the Conservative Cabinet’s decision to impose parking charges in Frome on Sundays, and shared the concerns of Frome’s Town Council, Chamber of Commerce, the Cheese and Grain, Frome Independent market, other non-Conservative councillors and the 6000 people who signed the Town Council’s petition, that new charges would harm Frome’s economy, community events and the future of the Sunday market (see news here and detail here). We asked Cabinet to reject the idea or defer the decision so that the costs, benefits, impacts and business case could be assessed, and proper consultation and dialogue held with the town.

Cabinet decided to impose new Sunday charges, but the Frome campaign had a considerable effect, as important concessions were made. There will be no parking charges on Frome Independent market Sundays, so the threat to the market has been avoided. Mendip will also limit the charges on other Sundays to £2 a day, rather than hourly charges of up to £5.90. See here for Frome Town Council’s report and videos.

We welcome the concessions, but increases could still be harmful and are premature before a proper car parking strategy is worked out next year. The Conservative Government’s strategy of defunding local councils (by reducing the revenue support grant to zero) is also to blame.

We hope people will respond to the 21 day statutory consultation on the new charges, as Mendip have to consider the responses.

We also completely condemn the unacceptable personal abuse that Councillor Taylor and his family have had about this issue.

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