Speaking at last week's monthly meeting of Westport Town Council, on
the issue of on-street parking charges, Labour's Cllr Keith Martin
agreed with Fianna Fail's Brendan Mulroy who accused Fine Gael of
"doing a U-turn" in relation to the introduction of parking charges in
the town.
Having backed the provision of on-street parking charges in the budget
Fine Gael councillors along with Independent Martin Keane underwent a
dramatic "damascan conversion" and withdrew their support from the
byelaws, leaving council officials and Cllrs Mulroy and Martin bemused
and astonished at this sudden change of mind.
Speaking at the meeting in relation to Fine Gael's volte face Cllr
Martin told the councillors that "I myself feel like I've been mugged
and have ended up with two wallets!"
Cllr Martin and Cllr Mulroy were the only councillors to vote against
the 2011 Town Council budget proposals for on-street parking. The
budget, which included a €150,000 provision of income was passed by
all five Fine Gael Councillors and Independent Cllr Martin Keane.
In relation to allegations of "scaremongering" made by Cllrs Hyland
and Gannon in relation to the proposed charges Cllr Martin challenged
that "sometimes you should be scared!"
During the meeting Cllr Martin also promised that he and Cllr Mulroy
would be introducing a byelaw to enforce residents only parking in the
Crescent.
Cllr Martin went on say it was unfair of Fine Gael to point the finger
of blame in the direction of the Town Manager and his staff saying
that the executive "were only carrying out the wishes" of Fine Gael
who voted for the provision of on-street parking charges in the 2011
Budget.
Cllr Martin continued, "good town planning and good retail planning
dictate that parking charges are only introduced to facilitate the
free flow of traffic and to ensure the availability and turnover
parking spaces.
It should never be about raising revenue and should never be used to
implement a tax on car users.
Historically Westport is a retail town and steps have already been
taken to ensure parking turnover by reducing on-street parking from
two hours to one.
We have a number of large scale shopping centres with another about to
open shortly which provide free parking and the introduction now of
parking fees will detract from shopping on our main streets.
There are several towns throughout Ireland as Cllr Mulroy has already
pointed out where the introduction of parking charges has destroyed
town centre shopping so it is important to remember that these charges
are not 100% effective and positive as they have been portrayed by
management.
The arguments in relation to including the Crescent estate in the
parking byelaws are feeble at best. If the council was genuine in its
concerns for the residents it would have proposed to make the area
residents only by way of this byelaw.
That is a sure and simple method of protecting the residents of the
Crescent from the "errant motorists" parking there all day.
The Crescent is a housing estate and not a street and not a car park,
it should be protected by a byelaw in this manner.
The residents of the Crescent were already sold a lemon in the last
decade when they were promised parking permits. They bought their
permits but they were not backed up by byelaws or enforcement and were
not worth the paper they were written on.
In relation to comparing Westport with other towns with on-street
parking none of them are comparable to Westport which has a unique
welcome and is a unique tourism product.
Just because Tourists expect to pay is no reason to charge them for parking.
Charging for parking on Bridge Street is a tax on doing business on
Bridge Street that does not occur if you shop at any of the large
supermarkets in the area.
My opposition to on-street parking charges is about providing a level
playing field for all businesses. It's about protecting the residents
of the Crescent by prohibiting parking not by facilitating it.
That is why Cllr Mulroy and I will be introducing a byelaw before this
council to enforce residents only parking in the Crescent."
