Hot TOPICS 
Why isn't the town council promoting its 40p parking scheme to help traders?
(October 22, 2011)THE car
parking charges fiasco goes on and on as the town council which should
be earning praise for its 'cashback' initiative has failed to put any
signage in place to promote it.
Signs should be in place let motorists know that they can get 40p back against purchases at local independent traders.
Yesterday (Friday), so many weeks after the scheme was brought in, there was once again lots of vacant parking spots, even though it was market day which sees the traders taking over one of the car parks.
"I spent more minutes than I care to remember telling those at the parking meter to enjoy a cuppa at the Cornmarket cafe that the public think is part of this get out by our local councillors who serve on both the town council and the county council," says Paul Macdonald.
"Some shopkeepers will accept the tearaway part of the parking ticket but I am told that the town council have a limited fund to pay for this!
"But the problem is do we want to attract people for just one hour or should we battle the cabinet at county hall to deliver two hours free in market towns like Warminster?"
Meanwhile Wiltshire Council (see hot topic - October 12th) needs to talk to neighbouring councils that seem to have maintained car parking revenues by not taking the shopping motorist for a ride and increasing charges. If any councillor would like to contact visionforwarminster.co.uk we will happily help.
Steve Dancey said: ''Wiltshire Council says the recession led to the fall in revenue but has the recession avoided Test Valley, which sensibly, refused to raise charges last year.
''There was no mention made of any fall in revenue from this source when their finance portfolio holder announced the initial outlook for next year's budget at September's cabinet meeting - I was there.''
Signs should be in place let motorists know that they can get 40p back against purchases at local independent traders.
Yesterday (Friday), so many weeks after the scheme was brought in, there was once again lots of vacant parking spots, even though it was market day which sees the traders taking over one of the car parks.
"I spent more minutes than I care to remember telling those at the parking meter to enjoy a cuppa at the Cornmarket cafe that the public think is part of this get out by our local councillors who serve on both the town council and the county council," says Paul Macdonald.
"Some shopkeepers will accept the tearaway part of the parking ticket but I am told that the town council have a limited fund to pay for this!
"But the problem is do we want to attract people for just one hour or should we battle the cabinet at county hall to deliver two hours free in market towns like Warminster?"
Meanwhile Wiltshire Council (see hot topic - October 12th) needs to talk to neighbouring councils that seem to have maintained car parking revenues by not taking the shopping motorist for a ride and increasing charges. If any councillor would like to contact visionforwarminster.co.uk we will happily help.
Steve Dancey said: ''Wiltshire Council says the recession led to the fall in revenue but has the recession avoided Test Valley, which sensibly, refused to raise charges last year.
''There was no mention made of any fall in revenue from this source when their finance portfolio holder announced the initial outlook for next year's budget at September's cabinet meeting - I was there.''
*Test Valley covers the towns of Andover and Romsey which are close the Wiltshire border.