The Westbury Boards > Westbury News & Discussion

Question from the other forum

(1/3) > >>

Sector9:
Posted by Bazza...

I had to pop into town on my way home from work today, so I parked in the main car park and wandered over to pay my 40p. There I was waiting for my ticket to print and having a general nose around when into the car park swung the illustrious Councillor Hawker.. he promptly parked his car, hoisted himself out and marched off into Banana Blues without even a sideways glance at the ticket machine.
I have two questions which concern me somewhat..

Question 1: Are councillors exempt from the car parking charges in town? 
Question 2: What on earth would he be doing going into Banana Blues - he has no hair?

Al:
I doubt they are, but hey, I never pay either.

Mike Hawkins:

--- Quote from: Sector9 on January 18, 2012, 09:41:54 AM ---Posted by Bazza...

Question 1: Are councillors exempt from the car parking charges in town? 
Question 2: What on earth would he be doing going into Banana Blues - he has no hair?

--- End quote ---

Q1- No, they are not.
Q2- He was probably getting change for the car park machine. PS: He does have hair!

Mike Hawkins:

--- Quote from: Mike Hawkins on January 18, 2012, 18:54:51 PM ---
--- Quote from: Sector9 on January 18, 2012, 09:41:54 AM ---Posted by Bazza...

Question 1: Are councillors exempt from the car parking charges in town? 
Question 2: What on earth would he be doing going into Banana Blues - he has no hair?

--- End quote ---

Q1- No, they are not.
Q2- He was probably getting change for the car park machine. PS: He does have hair!

--- End quote ---

I may have got the answer to Q1 wrong (or my answer is incomplete).

According to Cllr. Cuthbert Murray on his"Communityforum": "No councillor is above paying for parking in council car parks ! As Unitary councillors we are issued with parking permits , which can be used for free parking only and I stress when we are on offical council buisness only."

However, this answer raises more questions:

1. Why are Unitiary Councillor given parking permits (which may easily be abused"?

Councillors may rightly claim legitimate expenses, as do many other people. Why do they not merely pay to park, and then submit a travel/parking claim (with justification for being parked)?

2. According to Cllr. C-M, these permits are for "official council business". Who decides what is "official council business"? Do the cllrs. have to prove to enforcement officers (EO) that they have parked on official business, or can they merely claim to be so, and then it is up to the EO to prove otherwise? Not a satisfactory state of affairs.

baldy:
Bazza has asked some good questions, which I am happy to answer.
 
I always get the WHN delivered quite quickly, but if I am in Mike's shop early on a Tuesday I'll pick up a WHN to have the earliest possible look inside the latest issue.
 
All Wiltshire Councillors are issued with parking permits which enable them to use council car parks for strictly council purposes only.
 
I had no business at all in the High Street except to see Mike briefly and to discuss whether there are any issues arising from the latest issue of WHN that affect us as councillors.
 
I often talk to other councillors to discuss council issues .... not least to see if we can think of ways to deal with issues through either Westbury Town Council or Wiltshire Council.
 
On this occasion, to my surprise, there were no new issues at all to discuss .... so I went straight home.
 
There is no strict definition of "council business", but I would expect it to include meeting with other councillors to discuss town issues and the possibility of town issues.
 
As I was not on any other business, I did not need to pay anything.
 
I have seen the same questions pop up in other parts of Wiltshire, especially Salisbury, when residents start emailing every councillor asking why Salisbury councillors seem to park for free in council car parks. As far as I am aware, the councillors are not on shopping trips but are actually visting nearby council offices to meet with other councillors or council officers.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page