Parking charges petition handed to North Northamptonshire Council by Wellingborough and Rushden MP

Gen Kitchen (Labour) has hand-delivered the petition to the Reform-led North Northants Council (NNC) offices at Corby Cube.

As the petition has exceeded 1,500 signatures, the MP hopes it will now trigger a debate at full council.

She said: “We have had 2,294 signatures on our petition to stop parking charges in Wellingborough and Rushden, which shows how strongly people feel about this.

“If the Reform council push ahead with these plans it would be terrible for our local businesses and for workers who use the car parks for long periods each day.

"It’s important that we all keep up the pressure and fight to save our town centres and high streets from these disastrous charges.”

North Northants Council announced proposals for a new parking strategy in September which outlines changes to provision at council-owned car parks. One such proposal was the introduction or retention of parking charges, which could see users of council-owned car parks pay a fee in Wellingborough and Rushden which, unlike Kettering and Corby, currently remain free to use.

The council says the proposed tariffs would ensure that car parks cover their costs including business rates, utilities, repairs and maintenance, and that the proposals will ‘reduce the financial burden to the council and ensure that car parking across North Northamptonshire is self-sustaining.’

However, many have criticised the strategy, with Wellingborough Town Council debating the viability of taking on the management of the car park in Jacksons Lane.

Cllr David Baker, who represents Victoria Ward in Wellingborough on North Northants Council, said: “The level of opposition already shown by local residents in this petition to the proposed introduction of parking charges in the town just highlights how wrong the Reform executive at NNC were to proceed to consultation on this basis.

“Triggering a debate at full council via this petition will be another step to emphasise why they need to stop ignoring residents, actually listen to their concerns and for Reform councillors to stand by their promises to residents not to introduce charges. Something which they’ve failed to do to date.”

A public consultation was launched last month and will continue until December 20, where people can have their say on the proposed charges, as well as changes including increasing the use of contactless, cashless and app-based payment options and increasing electric vehicle infrastructure.

The public consultation can be found and completed online here.