Call for car parking incompetence to be scrutinised

Wiltshire Councillor Howard Marshall has asked the council's Environment Scrutiny Committee to investigate the financial fall-out from the Conservative cabinet's decision to increase parking charges.

He says, "In light of the uncertainty regarding revenue streams coming from car parking charges and the possibility of them being reduced there is need to better understand the impact this will have on bus subsidies plus whether or not the projected deficit on car parking revenue can be recovered from elsewhere in this current year's budget."

(Allegedly the increased revenue from parking was to be used to subsidise bus services. However as the amount raised was half a million pounds less than budgeted it's not clear if there will still be any funds available for the buses.)

The Committee will decide whether to investigate further. However as all scrutiny committees in Wiltshire Council have built in Conservative majorities they never seriously criticise the administration, so it's unlikely that any review will take place.

Officers point out that a budget monitoring report is expected to be considered by the WC 'cabinet' on 18 October which will include details on how WC expects to account for the budget deficits, including those resulting from changes to the Salisbury parking regime. They also promise a report on car parking charges across the county for the council meeting on 8 November.