Last night, Stockton Council’s executive scrutiny committee decided to ignore the concerns of traders and residents alike. When given the opportunity to refer the decision to implement parking charges in Yarm back to cabinet for further consideration, the committee elected (by 9 votes to 7) not to do so.
In the spirit of transparency, the 9 councillors who voted against referring the matter back to cabinet are:
Cllr Nigel Cooke Labour
Cllr Bob Gibson Labour
Cllr Miss Barbara Inman Labour
Cllr Mohammed Javed Labour
Cllr Eileen Johnson Labour
Cllr Paul Kirton Labour
Cllr Mrs Jean O’Donnell Labour
Cllr Ross Patterson Ingleby Barwick Independents
Cllr Mick Stoker Labour
Despite the lack of any consultation with residents having occurred, despite the obvious risk to the continued success of the business on our High Street, despite the protestations of ward councillors from not just Yarm but also Eaglescliffe, and against the wishes of Yarm Town Council, the aforementioned councillors still voted against referring the matter back for reconsideration.
Now, the eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed a pattern in the above list.
What is, and should have been considered as, an apolitical ward issue has unfortunately been treated as a political football by all 8 Labour councillors that sit on the committee and one of their new coalition buddies from Ingleby Barwick. They have ignored the concerns of residents and traders alike for the sake of petty politics.
They should all be ashamed of themselves.
Whilst some Labour councillors will undoubtedly continue to try to pretend that the decision to introduce parking charges in Yarm was made in an attempt to alleviate the town’s parking difficulties, let me share a comment with you made by Labour MP Alex Cunningham on Twitter recently:
As is now abundantly clear, the council’s proposals have nothing to do with solving Yarm’s long-standing issues and everything to do with filling the council’s coffers.
Whilst this battle to prevent Stockton and Labour's latest attempts to milk the cash cow that is Yarm has been lost, I somehow doubt this will be an end to the matter...
