Wokingham Borough Council has reacted to claims by the town’s MP that it operated an “aggressive weekend charges” policy, alongside a “complex payment system.”
Sir John Redwood took to X, formerly Twitter, to criticise the local parking regime after his experiences on New Year’s Eve.
Now Cllr Paul Fishwick, Wokingham Borough Council’s executive member for active travel, transport and highways, has hit back.
He said: “As local councils across the country struggle, the situation in Wokingham Borough is stark.
“We receive £30 million less per year than the average local unitary authority – that’s £400 less per household per year than the average.
“We are looking at all of our services to see how and where we can make efficiencies.
“Therefore, we had no choice to increase off street car parking charges in July 2023, for the first time in over five years, as the cost of running the car parks had increased significantly during this period creating a budget shortfall.
“Without these increases, essential services might need to be cut, and we are trying to find ways to protect the most vulnerable in our community.”
Responding to Sir John’s concerns about parking payments, he added: “The machines that we use have been in place since 2018 and are a standard type found all over the country.
“There are multiple ways to pay for parking in our car parks.
“Each car park has at least two machines which accept coins in line with government guidance, cards (both contactless and via a card reader), Apple Pay and Google Pay.
“Additionally, the RingGo parking app can be used.
“Full instructions on how to pay for parking are displayed in each car park, as well as a comprehensive guide on our website.”
