THE penny’s dropped at last. Even the Courant has had to admit that this free parking malarkey has been a disaster for Hexham.
Once again, the politicians and the bureaucrats have been proved wrong, and ordinary folks have been proved right.
The truth is, this scheme was never researched or planned properly. It was worked out on the back of a fag packet by people who knew the cost of everything but the value of nothing.
Anyone could have told Hexham Town Council that if you made parking free, all those people who don’t like paying would flood the town – and that’s what’s happened.
The other thing is, the crisis has made it clear that there aren’t enough parking spaces in the town. That’s why the old system of paid parking was the fairest way of dealing with that problem.
Free parking was introduced by politicians in Hexham and at County Hall who didn’t do their homework before introducing the scheme. And the result of their incompetence has been chaos, frustration, loss of business and a loss of reputation for Hexham Town Council.
Worst of all, they haven’t got the courage to admit they got it wrong, or to apologise for the mess their ignorance has created.
Saying ‘sorry’ won’t cure the problem, but it would be a step in the right direction.
What Hexham needs is a town council that thinks carefully before it speaks and acts.
The current town councillors fail this basic test of competence, and they’ve got to go.
A.B. CUTHBERT
Hexham
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