According to the Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard,
the Cotswold District Council (UK) recently voted to extend weekday parking
charges to Sundays and apply a flat rate £1.50 fee for overnight parking
between 6pm and 8am, in a bid to raise £55,000 extra revenue.
In the newspaper article it is claimed that a UK
parking consultant has deemed the move as unlawful, based on a ruling by the
High Court against Camden Borough Council in 1995 which states that councils
cannot introduce new charges merely to generate revenue.
We would expect that Councils may wish to extend paid
parking to cover the entire week once the system is functioning well in the
area and it would be hard to explain the reason in any other terms than the
raising of additional revenues, unless specific customer driven outcomes can
also be identified and highlighted. We all know as well that providing such an
explanation would result in a negative reaction from the community, wherever
that happens.