Yesterday, Cambridgeshire County Council’s Conservative Cabinet voted to introduce a £1 parking charge at the five Park & Ride sites in Cambridge. This would be on top of the existing bus fares for those who take the bus, and people parking cars and then walking or cycling from the Park & Ride sites would be paying for the first time.

This is extremely controversial, especially because there has been no consultation with users, employers, residents or anyone else. Nor has there been any assessment of the risks, such as parking displacement or modal shift. I spoke at Cabinet myself and focussed on the danger of extra parking in our already congested streets.

The Liberal Democrats have called this decision in, which means it will be voted on again by a committee comprising councillors from all the parties represented on the Council.

It is very important that these councillors know what people think about this, so you might like to write to members of this committee. They are:

Councillors Peter Ashcroft (Huntingdon, UKIP), Ralph Butcher (Whittlesey South, Con), Barry Chapman (Little Paxton & St Neots North, Con), David Connor (Forty Foot, Con), Steve Criswell (Somersham & Earith, Con) (Vice-Chairman), Roger Henson (Norman Cross, UKIP), Ray Manning (Willingham, Con), Michael Rouse (Ely North & East, Con), John Hipkin (Castle, Ind), David Jenkins (Cottenham, Histon & Impington Lib Dem), Noel Kavanagh (Coleridge, Lab), John Williams (Fulbourn, Lib Dem) and Graham Wilson (Godmanchester & Huntingdon East, Lib Dem) (Chairman)

Their emails are First [email protected] , and you can get their full contact details at:

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/cmswebsite/apps/committees/members.aspx

This will be debated by the committee when it meets tomorrow morning.

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