Campaigners fighting planned parking charges in Stokesley and other North Yorkshire market towns are holding a public meeting tonight at Northallerton Town Hall at 7pm.
Hambleton Council wants to charge to park in Stokesley, Northallerton, Thirsk and Bedale from next year. They hope the move will help plug a predicted funding shortfall of £450,000 in the 2009/10 financial year. But opponents, including business owners, who organised tonight’s meeting, claim the move will damage trade.
Marcus Grover, who owns a photography business on High Street, Northallerton, said: “Our market towns have a tradition of independent shops that attract visitors from all over the North-east. With the growing popularity of internet shopping and the out-of-town options that customers have, our communities cannot afford this ill thought-out plan.�
Fees of 20p an hour in Stokesley High Street or £1 a day at the show field are proposed and would bring in £65,000. In Northallerton, drivers could have to pay 40p per hour or £1.50 a day.
You can now post local community news directly to this website! Find out more 
Keep up to date with TS10 Redcar subscribe to our RSS feed
Keep up to date with TS10 Redcar news via our Facebook group
easyAds123 - buying or selling? Search through 100s of ads for the best deals on Teesside
What a shame that Hambleton DC has joined national government and other councils around the country in viewing the motorist as a cash cow to be milked whenever they are short of funds. Whitehall continues to fleece us with the highest fuel taxes in Europe and the latest retrospective VED scam and local councils now employ thousands of "parking wardens" who have become the provisional wing of their tax collection departments.
Hambleton DC is not listening to its residents and businesses whose interests they are supposed to represent.