Westport street parking submissions made to council

Westport street parking submissions made to council


Áine Ryan

THE CONTROVERSY around on-street parking charges in Westport is about to come to a head with small businesses very concerned about the impact they will have on the town core’s trade.
The closing date for submissions from the public was Friday last. The town council wants to introduce new by-laws and confirmed yesterday it received 22 submissions about the measure, which has already led to heated debates in the council chamber.
Two councillors, Brendan Mulroy (Fianna Fail) and Keith Martin (Labour) are totally opposed  to the move. Compounding the issue is the fact that the elected members have already budgeted for €150,000 in revenue from car-parking revenue.
In January, The Mayo News revealed that the town council had proposed to introduce a six-month trial period to test the controversial proposal, this has not happened yet.
Slamming the proposal at the time, Cllr Keith Martin said: “Cllr Mulroy and I have been very strong on this issue from the beginning; we are opposed to the introduction of on-street parking charges in Westport.  We wanted a proper public debate on the issue before adopting the budget but we were voted down,” Cllr Martin said.
The Labour councillor warned they would sound ‘the death-knell’ for small businesses
He continued: “Despite the fact that all the Fine Gael councillors and independent Cllr Martin Keane backed the budget provision for €150,000 in on-street parking charges, I don’t think they will back the parking by-laws as quickly.”
If the by-law was not passed, an additional €150,000 would have to be identified elsewhere from the overall budget.
Cllr Martin warned that this penalizing of small businesses could not only force people into free supermarket carparks but could even encourage shoppers to go to Castlebar.
He argued there was ‘absolutely no point in reducing rates and then making it more expensive to shop in Westport town core’. 
Adding: “Grocery, butchers, florists and clothes shops are already finding it hard enough to keep their doors open without Westport Town Council driving away customers through an opportunistic parking charge.
“I shall be calling on Fine Gael and Cllr Martin Keane to vote against the bylaws when they come before the council later in the spring.  It’s time we shouted stop”
In another twist, speaking to The Mayo News last night, Fine Gael’s  Cllr Christy Hyland said the council had lost thousands of euro of revenue over the last months by leaving the carparks open and free of charge.
“When I asked Martin Keating at a recent meeting why the Bridge Street-Mill Street car park was open, he said they did not have the revenue to fix the gates. And, then, when I asked why they could not get a hut and hire a man to sit in it, he replied there was a ban on recruitment. This is ridiculous,” Cllr Hyland said.
Clarifying the overall issue he also said: “I originally voted for a reduction in the rates if the extra revenue needed, €150,000, could be got from car parking charges. Everything has to be put back on the table now and discussed, especially permits for residents.”