U-turn on Westport parking

CHANGES COMING While on-street parking will still be free for one hour in Westport town centre, motorists will soon have to pay a charge for their cars to remain any longer.  Pic: Ciara Moynihan

Controversial parking charges to be introduced

Anton McNulty

On-street car-parking charges will be introduced in Westport in the near future. The shock revelation comes after councillors backtracked on a previous promise not to introduce the divisive charges.
Last June, councillors in the West Mayo Municipal District rejected a proposal by the executive of Mayo County Council to introduce on-street car-parking, but at yesterday’s (Monday) monthly meeting in Belmullet they performed an extraordinary U-turn and bowed to the pressure of the executive.
Westport-based councillors Christy Hyland (Ind) and Tereasa McGuire (FG) told the meeting that with a ‘heavy heart’ they had agreed to vote in favour of the Council’s new street parking bylaws, which will see the introduction of on-street parking charges. Only Westport-based Fianna FΡil councillor Brendan Mulroy and Cllr Teresa Whelan (SF) from Belmullet voted against the move.
The new bylaws adopted by the Municipal District will see free parking for the first hour in the town centre – but the second hour will cost €1. There will be no free parking at The Quay.
Furthermore, pay-and-display machines will not be installed on the streets, and motorists will have to buy parking discs in shops and businesses in Westport.

Pressure
Councillors came under pressure last summer to introduce some sort of a street-parking levy after Mayo County Council stated they would not receive their full allocation of General Municipal Allocation Funding (GMA).
There was a shortfall of up to €250,000 in GMA funding, which councillors use to allocate monies to community groups, and the councillors were informed the shortfall could only be made up through parking charges. In the absence of such charges, the GMA was withheld.
The councillors met with Council officials over the last number of weeks to thrash out an agreement acceptable to both parties.
Proposing the motion to adopt the new bylaws, Cllr Hyland said that although the issue of street-parking charges was very divisive in Westport, commonsense had to prevail. Councillors could not sit back while community groups were left ‘shortchanged’, he said.
“I am doing so with a very heavy heart,” he told the meeting which was held in Belmullet. “The situation we are in cannot continue. [The charges] will create a GMA fund for our district into the future.” He said that events like community festivals needed funding, and that   ‘if we don’t adopt these bylaws we won’t be able to help anyone’. He said he knew he was putting his ‘head above the parapet’, but that the introduction of the parking charges was the right thing ‘for the welfare of this district – this town and all the towns’. He added that the councillors had the power to revisit the bylaws and make amendments if needed.
Objecting to the introduction of the bylaws, Cllr Mulroy said it was a retrograde step for the town. “The only worse thing than traffic in Westport is no traffic,” he said. “I think it is a sad day for Westport, a sad day for the rate payers of the town, the people who visit the town and the people of the town.”
Pointing out that businesses have already been hit with rate increases since the Westport Town Council was abolished, he said: “This is another hit to the rate payers because they will be asked to roll this out with the disc displays, which in itself could prove a challenge.”

Flawed bylaws
All the councillors agreed that the current flawed street-parking bylaws in Westport had to be changed in some way, as they are not enforceable in court.
Independent councillor Michael Holmes seconded Cllr Hyland’s proposal to adopt the bylaws, saying he felt it would benefit Westport.
“Several business people in Westport have said to me that when they look out their window they see the same car parked there from morning to night. The traffic warden can do nothing about it. You might as well have a snowman going up and down,” he said.
Cllr Holmes added he could not stand by while communities in other parts of the district could not get GMA funding because of the lack of parking charges in Westport.
Cllr McGuire told the meeting that she still opposed the charges but that on ‘mature reflection’ she had to do what was best for the town.
“Sometimes you have to do what is for the greater good and betterment of the town. At the moment we are neglecting the people of the town by having Westport traffic the way it is. Sometimes making the right decision is not the easy decision,” she said, adding: “My heart is not light about this … I will be slugging the Gaviscon all the way back to Westport.”
Cllr Paul McNamara and Cllr Gerry Coyle both said they felt that the charges would free up parking spaces and help businesses in the town.
A date for the introduction of the charges was not given at the meeting, but Director of Services Catherine McConnell ruled out any introduction before Christmas. Thanking the councillors for their decision, Ms McConnell acknowledged that it was a difficult move for them.
“I want to ensure the members that we will take all their concerns on board, and we will review the operation of the bylaws with yourselves,” she said. “They do need some lead-in time and [time will be needed] for people to adjust to the system when it is up and running. We will work with you and review the system to get things ironed out.”