Over the course of a weekend in February, almost 2000 local people signed Labour’s petition to keep parking free at our major leisure sites and our smaller community car parks. The Lib Dems panicked and, on the Monday, rushed out a statement confirming that charges would not happen. The official Wokingham Borough Council response would come a few days later.
The petition was debated at Full Council last week. The petition debate was followed by the consideration of a motion presented by Councillor Nagi Nagella, the gist of which was that parking should remain free in these car parks, the most well used of which is the car park at Cantley Park.
The Lib Dems chose not to avail themselves of the opportunity to withdraw gracefully from a fight they cannot win. Instead, by their words in their speeches and their amendment to the motion, they made clear they view imposing charges at these sites as an inevitability, rather than an ill thought through political choice.
When the car park charges were first mooted back in November, this course of action was presented as a way to “sweat assets” as part of the general search for revenue. It was only later, as the Executive scrabbled around for a justification of the eye-watering charges, that an attempt was made to link the car parking fees with the upkeep of the car park and the upkeep of the facilities.
We should be thankful that the law prohibits the Lib Dems from charging for borrowing books from our libraries or for charging entry fees to libraries. By their logic, library users should be whacked with a charge. Why should the rest of us be subsidising those who want to read and learn? Perhaps the MP for Wokingham can take up the cudgel for our Council and try and persuade the government to change the law to allow the Council to charge those expensive library users for the privilege.
Libraries are in the most accessible locations. Local authorities, like the draftees of the law prohibiting the charging of fees for book borrowing, have never questioned the fact that making books and libraries as accessible as possible is a good thing.
Cantley, like Dinton and California, is accessible on foot to possibly the couple of thousand people who live close to the parks. Car parking charges are in effect a levy on leisure activity. It is bad enough that the Conservatives introduced charges on the car parks on our two flagship country parks but even they had the sense to leave Cantley and smaller car parks alone.
Generally, rationing access to open spaces, leisure and sport is seen as a bad thing. There is a very good reason why, in theory, there is no entry fee to our country parks, Cantley and our Sites of Alternative Natural Greenspace. But make no mistake, car parking charges act as a de facto entry fee – a Lib Dem leisure levy on all those who don’t live within walking distance.
The LibDem leisure levy will result in a rationing of access to leisure facilities and local shops. Either because people cannot afford the parking or the perception that the charges are expensive, people will stop using the facilities. This means fewer people playing sports. Fewer people walking. Fewer children playing on play equipment. Fewer volunteers supporting teams and clubs.
Those that continue to use the facilities will generally be wealthier. Using our community facilities will increasingly be a marker of privilege. Our leisure facilities need to be centres of opportunity and not just cost centres.
The Lib Dems need to accept there is a virtue in making some facilities as accessible as possible to all our residents. This means collective funding, not funding by individual users. Leisure facilities, like libraries, perform an essential function. They make us healthier and increase our societal wealth.
They need to bin their plans to increase the levy on leisure, and we can all forget they ever planned it.
Andy Croy is a Wokingham Town Councillor for Norreys East.
