THE question of Salisbury parking charges continues to be raised often with the view that councillors don’t care about them.

Virtually the first email I sent on being elected to Wiltshire Council was to the leader and cabinet member making the case for a reduction in parking charges.

I made similar points as a Salisbury District Councillor to a leader and cabinet member of a different political persuasion.

I continue to raise the issue at every chance that I get, perhaps with little success, although I was able to get Salisbury included in the small reduction (10p to the one-hour charge) last year.

Every time I raised the issue to the district council and every time I raise it with Wiltshire Council I get the same and, I have to admit, sadly sensible reply. How are we going to pay for it?

The truth is that parking provides councils with revenue which is spent in other areas. We currently use it to support the park and ride sites and other bus services, which we believe are essential.

I would love to reduce parking charges but the question remains, if we did where would we raise that revenue from or what could we cut to match the loss in revenue?

The first time I was told that reducing the charges would reduce revenue I countered the argument, saying that increased usage could more than compensate reduction in prices.

I spent a long afternoon looking at historic data and the parking model with Salisbury District Council officers and sadly the data did not support me; when charges are reduced the increase in usage does not cover the reduction in income.

I want to understand more about residents’ views on parking and gather information so I am able to back up my continuing campaign to lower our parking charges.

To help with this, I have put a survey together looking at the issues around parking, charges and how to pay for any changes.

It would really help if as many people as possible could take a couple of minutes to fill in the survey and give me the evidence I need. I have done this myself as the Wiltshire councillor for St Paul’s Ward, Salisbury and not in my capacity as chairman of the area board.

It can be found at surveymonkey.com/s/R3Z8TZD.

RICHARD CLEWER

Wiltshire councillor, St Paul's Ward, Salisbury. Chairman, Salisbury Area Board. Tel: 01794 884550, Mob: 07980 756424.

I REFER to the letters in the Journal regarding the state of parking in the city.

I inquired in the council offices in March when the dreadful parking on the east side of Manor Road was going to be replaced. The answer was that the money had run out – the same reply as I received last year.

B STAINES Salisbury