Powys Car Parking Review Delayed: Councillors and Stakeholders Left in the Dark

A REVIEW of car parking price hikes in Powys was completed in April.
But the contents remain hidden from councillors over three months later due to the need for council staff to “refine” the document.
Earlier this month Powys Independents councillor, Graham Breeze said that he was extremely unhappy that a meeting of the Economy, Residents and Communities scrutiny committee scheduled for July the 19, had been cancelled.
At the meeting, a presentation updating councillors on the outcome of the long awaited review was supposed to have been given.
To find out why the meeting had been cancelled, Cllr Breeze tabled a number of questions for the Liberal Democrat cabinet member for highways and transport, Cllr Jackie Charlton to answer.
Cllr Charlton said: “The final report was submitted on April 30 to officers to prepare the cabinet report.
“The original time frames were always going to be tight and to ensure the working group had sufficient notice to bring together a politically balanced group of councillors and offering places to stakeholders on the working groups.
“Our aim was to enable councillors and stakeholders to attend workshops to fit their requirements.
“Additionally, the workshop members requested face to face meetings with consultants and officers which added to the cost and to the delays.
“There was also a necessary period of refining the report for both scrutiny and cabinet to make decisions.”
Cllr Charlton explained that the decision to withdraw the report from the scrutiny meeting had been decided at a joint meeting of Cabinet and senior staff of the Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) on Tuesday, July 16
Cllr Charlton said:  “There was lack of agreement on the recommendations after a full discussion prior to scrutiny.
“I am working with officers and the CLT to provide a report which can be fully supported to take forward to scrutiny as soon as practicable.”
Cllr Charlton’s also said that it cost £49,796 to hold workshops for councillors and stakeholders including the extra face to face meetings.
Cllr Breeze is “horrified and disappointed” with the reply he has received.
He believed that it is “totally unreasonable” to suggest the delay in publishing the full review is down to those who sat on the panel.
Cllr Breeze said: “It is also extremely unfair to intimate that a huge consultant’s bill of nearly £50,000 is down to the thoroughness of the councillors and stakeholders who volunteered their time and effort to engage in the review process.
“Who would have thought that it was unrealistic for councillors to meet face-to-face with the consultants.”
He added that he “could only assume” that the disagreement between cabinet members and senior staff on what decision to recommended was because the report contents are not to their “liking.”
Cllr Breeze said: “While we delay our residents continue to be faced with £2-50 fees for popping to the shops and our town centre business owners continue to tell us that footfall is being damaged by increased car parking costs.”
He hoped the review would be brought to the next meeting of the scrutiny committee.
The car parking fees were increased as part of the 2023/2024 budget by the Liberal Democrat/Labour/Green administration which came into force in April last year.
Just over year ago, Powys Independents councillors Graham Breeze and Gareth E Jones put forward a motion to council to review the increase.
This was in the belief that the council were making more money on the price hike than they expected.
The motion was withdrawn at the meeting on July 20, 2023, as Cllr Charlton confirmed that a car parking review would go ahead. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​