(Blaenau Gwent) (Lab):
It seems to me that the hon. Gentleman is being more than a bit
partisan. Is he aware that it is often Conservative-controlled
councils that make the most money from parking? I have just
looked at The Independent from December 2015, which said that
Westminster Council had made an astonishing £46.4 million that
year.
(Calder Valley)
(Con): I think I said earlier that it is welcome when
councils do things well, but sadly there are far too many that do
not. My experience is of a Labour-controlled council in
Calderdale, which has openly admitted that it uses parking as a
cash cow, as did Barnet Council, which was taken to court. I was
not being particularly partisan; I was merely pointing out that
Calderdale is a Labour-controlled council that has been open and
honest enough to say that it has used parking as a cash cow.
(Torbay) (Con): My
hon. Friend will recall that intervened on the Bill’s promoter,
my hon. Friend the Member for Bosworth (David Tredinnick), on
Report earlier today, saying that trying to compare central
London with the rest of the country is patently ridiculous. The
reason why Westminster Council makes a lot of money out of
parking is that it is in the very centre of London.
: As always, my
hon. Friend makes a valid point. The strategies that councils
have in place in the centre of London, Manchester, Birmingham or
Leeds will be entirely different from those in some of my smaller
local villages, such as West Vale, Ripponden, Hebden Bridge,
Todmorden and Brighouse.
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