It beggars belief that this Labour/Lib Dem council is prioritising reopening a failing park and ride rather than getting your bins collected and ending this strike.
There's clearly money for the park and ride but not for your bin services!
As the bin strike enters its third week, the Lab/Lib coalition has called a special Overview & Scrutiny Committee to discuss the possible reopening of Sturry Rd Park & Ride in April 2024 (yes folks a whole three months earlier than the July 2024 date when it was already scheduled to reopen). It will then go to a special cabinet meeting on August 1 where no doubt this will be rubber-stamped through. They say they don't need a consultation!
This will cost £230,000 to reopen, largely because the dedicated Stagecoach bus service will be recommissioned, which operates between 7am until 7pm between the city's bus station and the park and ride. So not improving the service in any way. Also not upgrading to electric buses. And also, it won't be free as they promised before the May elections.
The £230k required will need to be built into the 2024/25 budget, most likely by raising parking charges across the district. That means you will be paying more to subsidise the few using the dedicated buses.
Let's not forget we took the difficult decision to mothball Sturry Rd because each parking act equated to a subsidy of over £5 per vehicle over and above the £4 daily fee to park.
We felt then, given the council's difficult financial situation post-pandemic, that this money was better spent on services that affect every resident, such as better bin collections, keeping the district clean and improving enforcement.
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