As many of you will know Respark charges increased at the same time as the council imposed the Evening Parking charges and increased the amount of double yellow lines and parking meters in the city.
For those of you that don’t know, Respark is a scheme that was introduced to stop residential streets being full of parked cars that were not connected (owned, visiting etc) to residents. The costs that were charged to residents were to cover the cost of the scheme i.e. not to make profit.
So what happen this year - the council decided to double the cost of a resident permit. They also increased the cost of other permits including one day visitor permits. The outcome of this was that the Respark scheme now became another form of local taxation and it was no longer a non-profit making scheme to help the residents of the city.
Some critics have said that the ruling council (Liberal Democrat) have imposed a tax on areas of city that are controlled by opposing ward councilors. It is worth saying that most of the Respark schemes are in wards that are controlled by the Labour party.
From what I understand the scheme was only considered for an area if the residents of the street asked for the street to be put forward. I wonder what would happen if the residents petitioned to have their Respark status removed? Probably the council tax would have to increase again!!!
Oh on a final note - when the decision was made to review and change the evening car park charges, Respark charges were not changed.
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