CAR PARK STRATEGY

The new car park charges for next year are as follows:

Long-stay only: All day £4.50 6 Hours £2-90 3 Hours £1-90 1 Hour £1-60

All other charges stay the same as they are now.

The Car Park Fees Action Group welcome these changes, but say they do not go far enough. The Council’s Policy and Resources Committee has referred the Action Group’s own proposals back to the next meeting of Community Services with a view to looking at running a “pilot” based on the Group’s proposals for a £1-50 all day parking fee at Wentworth Street.

A64 JUNCTIONS

The action group representing Town District and County councils is endeavouring to get improvements to the intersections on the Malton byepass.

REVENUES AND BENEFITS

There is a plan to merge the Revenues and Benefits sections of Ryedale and Hambleton into a single “partnership”. The scheme is backed by a Government grant of £685,000, and Ryedale is expected to pay £140,000 towards the cost. As I understand the matter, it will take Ryedale three years to recover the cost, and the net benefit during that time will be about £25,000 per annum. I have opposed this scheme for three reasons:

a) The cost;

b) The £685,000 looks to me like a Government bribe to take us one step further down the road to regionalisation;

c) There is bound to be a loss of local accountability and control.

POSSIBLE FUTURE REORGANISATION

I understand there was a high level consultation meeting at York on16th March. We have been faced with threats of reorganisation before. I am against any reduction of local democracy by merging Councils into bigger un its, but I do think we should take some basic steps to protect the District’s interests. Ryedale’s massive reserves should be committed to local projects without any further delay.