Council slammed for asking residents not to object to parking charges

Richard Evans – Local Democracy Reporter

A council has been slammed for asking residents to withdraw letters of objection during a consultation period before it introduces “extortionate” parking fees on a Welsh seafront.

Old Colwyn seafront has undergone an £18m transformation as part of sea defence work paid for with Welsh Government funding.

But as part of the plans Conwy wants to charge to park between 10am and 4pm.

Drivers will have to pay £5.50 for up to four hours between May 1 and September 30, with the fee reducing to £2.40 for two hours and £3.80 for four hours during other times of the year.

Withdraw

But whilst parking between 4pm and 10am would be free, motorhomes would be banned from overnight stays.

Public notices have now gone up around Old Colwyn as part of a public consultation that ends on November 15.

But residents who have written to the cash-strapped authority in objection received a letter from Conwy asking the sender to “consider withdrawing their objection”.

The council letter explains the parking charges and the reasoning behind them.

‘Undemocratic’

The letter then asked: “We would be grateful if you’d consider withdrawing your objection by replying to this email to that effect.”

Old Colwyn councillor Cheryl Carlisle has slammed the council for “undemocratic” behaviour, claiming local members weren’t consulted ahead of the plans being announced.

Cllr Carlisle also criticised the letter that asked residents to consider withdrawing their objections. “Local councillors were completely unaware Conwy intended to charge for parking at this Old Colwyn end of the prom,” she said.

“There was no prior warning, no consultation, and no chance for us to inform our residents and collect their views. This is contrary to the accepted officer/member protocol, and we only found out about it when Conwy attached the notices to lampposts and put it out on their social media platforms.”

Rescind

She added: “These emails are asking each resident to rescind their original opinions/objections. This is completely undemocratic, as residents have every right to respond to an official Conwy CBC consultation and to expect their voices to be heard.

“We fully understand the financial predicament that Conwy has found itself in, but I and my fellow local councillors fail to see how this costly scheme is going to address any of Conwy’s current woes given the high costs involved in setting up all the infrastructure needed.

“The fact that residents of Old Colwyn are being asked to withdraw their complaints when they are perfectly entitled to respond to a consultation is an absolute scandal and wholly undemocratic.

“It suggests that these decisions are already made, and this scheme will go ahead, despite there being no facts and figures produced to evidence the financial viability of this scheme and its attendant costs. When are residents going to be listened to? Old Colwyn and surrounding areas deserve better.”

A spokeswoman for Conwy County Council commented: “We have proposed a traffic regulation order to extend the controlled parking zone on Old Colwyn Promenade.. “The statutory (legal) consultation process for any traffic regulation order allows residents to object to or support a change.

“The council responds to objections and provides further information or explanation where possible. Having given an explanation, it is then standard procedure to ask the resident whether they wish to withdraw their objection.”

She added: “We do not assume that an objection has been cleared by us providing information – this needs to be done in writing by the person who raised the objection.”