Controversial plans to charge for parking in Castletown have been postponed until there is wider public consultation

The local authority wants to introduce charges at several car parks in town; the money raised from charges will be ring-fenced and finance their road surface repair.

Linked to this is the closure of the square to parking, which was fully closed at Easter to September, but provoked such controversy the authority reopened half of it after a few weeks.

Commissioner Jerry Ludford-Brooks said: ’A lot of people say to me it’s ridiculous people will have to pay for parking and the fiasco over parking in the square needn’t have happened if there had been more consultation.’

He brought a notice of motion to a recent board meeting asking for ’meaningful public consultation’ on the proposal.

The motion also asks for the order to be displayed ’in a prominent public place’ in the Civic Centre and on the town’s public noticeboard.

Comments should be considered by the authority at a board meeting.

Until the board have considered in detail public responses received, ’and determined whether to implement all, some or none of the proposals as contained in the draft order’ there should be no advance in ’structural works ... including the purchase of equipment in connection with implementation of the provisions within the proposed draft order’.

He pushed for the delay over concerns that the public weren’t fully aware of how the commissioners plan to change parking in the town.

He said his motion provoked debate by the board.

’At first some commissioners said there was no need for it, they said that the Department of Infrastructure had been consulted and there was no need for local input. The board was split. I pointed out we’ve got to do it, that this is about people and businesses in town.’

He said he was ’very pleased’ with the outcome.

Further consultation with residents - how and when has yet to be decided - will be held between now and April 2020, by which time the local authority intends to implement a new parking order.

What is proposed:

â?¢ Two-hour free parking (four hours for blue badge holders) at the Grammar School, Malew Street, and George Paddock spaces, with a £1 charge for the rest of the day.

â?¢ Grammar School car park to remain free on a Sunday.

â?¢ Cars parked at Barracks Square and Farrant’s Way restricted to a 30 minute stop.

â?¢ Reserved parking won’t be offered to new applicants, bar blue badge holders, members of on-call emergency services, or those with a ’justifiable need’.

â?¢ Existing users will be written to with renewal options

â?¢ Weekly (£5) and annual (£250) permits will be made available. Scratch-card books will be issued for daily parking.