Hebden Bridge consists of more than car parks
Posted by Jonathan Timbers, Monday, March 11, 2002Whilst I agree that car parking charges are a very live issue in the townships of Calderdale, it depresses me that it should be the main issue on this website at the moment. You know, we have some of the worst social housing (as well as some of the best) in Calderdale here, problems with heroin abuse and users, and serious and widespread problems of low pay.
Too often the political debate in this town runs around an agenda created in close relation to the local shopkeepers and their interests. So while I agree that if car-parking charges are introduced the exceptions outlined by a previous contact seem both fair and sensible (though expensive to administer), I really wish we could find something else to care about with the same fervour and passion.
I'm not saying that it shouldn't be discussed or that I take the opposition to the charges lightly. I have opposed car-parking charges before. I just want a less two-dimensional debate.