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ON Monday February 18, Conservative councillors tabled a series of amendments to reduce parking charges in the city.

We wanted to remove Sunday charging.

Sunday parking was introduced as a short-term measure to address a budget shortfall and is no longer necessary.

We wanted to encourage people to move on quickly from on-street parking spaces by reducing the minimum charge and increasing the rest.

Finally, we wanted to encourage park and ride by reducing that charge. We were accused of mischief making because we didn't explained how we would replace the lost income.

The measures would cost about £300,000, or almost exactly the extra amount the administration intends to grab from the parking account.

£1,400,000 used to be transferred to the general fund every year.

This is to go up to £1,700,000 - an increase of more than 20 per cent.

The administration desperately needs extra money, and not just £300,000 from parking, to fund its plans.

In cabinet, full council and this letters page the administration has paraded its achievements and priorities' without mentioning all of the costs.

Here are the ones we know about: £25,000 for free swimming, £50,000 to arts organisations, £50,000 to stimulate artistic activity, £80,000 increase in area grants, £170,000 community projects fund, £425,000 to leisure centres, and £48,000 on CCTV service.

This little spending spree has cost £848,000 or £17 in stealth taxes from every household in the district.

Is it any wonder this administration is desperate to raise money?

And we haven't even got a price for the Guildhall access, weekly waste collection and refurbishing the City Hall.

To come back to the question, where would Conservatives find the money from? We wouldn't. We wouldn't need it, because we wouldn't spend the best part of a million pounds grabbing headlines.

FRED WESTMORELAND Leader of the Conservative Group of Councillors Salisbury District Council

11:00am Thursday 13th March 2008

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