As you will see from my other post, the current SHBC administration plan to introduce significant changes in Surrey Heath’s car parks.

When the previous adminstration (that I was part of) proposed introducing changes at Wharf Road Car Park in Frimley Green, after some thought, I supported the changes.

Whilst it was free all day it didn’t work as a car park for residents. It was constantly full.  I felt we should try change and see if it worked better with charging, after an hours free parking.

Has it worked? I think so.

Residents can now park when they need to when they want to pop to the shops. I know it wasn’t universally popular with the employees of local shops, who had got used to being able to park there all day for free, but my view was we should take a long-term view to ‘nudge’ a shift in employment patterns and stop incentivising staff to drive to work and park for free.

The local Liberal Democrats opposed the change. They voted to keep the car park the same as it had been for the previous 20 years I’ve lived in Frimley Green: A car park impossible to park in. They continued to opppose the change once it was implemented, in their own words they “fought repeatedly against” it:

 

So when it came to the recent parking review, did the Liberal Democrat Council take the opportunity to reverse what they thought was such a bad idea? 

No – they kept the charging, and are planning to reduce the free parking period from an hour to 30 minutes, increasing the risk pf overspill parking that made it such a bad idea.

Why the change of mind?

Why incur all the cost reprogramming the machines and changing the signage if it’s just another version of what they were so opposed to before?

Stuart Black, January 2024.