Swindon Borough Council lost £169K in expected car parking income in 2012/13 due to fewer cars parking in the Town Centre. This has come while Swindon Borough Council has borrowed £15m to pay for a new car park in the Town Centre, which is drawing near to completion.
Swindon Borough Council lost £169K in expected car parking income in 2012/13 due to fewer cars parking in the Town Centre. This has come while Swindon Borough Council has borrowed £15m to pay for a new car park in the Town Centre, which is drawing near to completion.
This information can be found on page 68 of the Swindon Council Cabinet papers, which can be found via the following link under the Highways & Transport column.
The Swindon Labour Group’s Shadow Lead for Transport, Councillor Julian Price, has questioned why Swindon Council’s Conservative administration have agreed to borrow £15m on a new Town Centre Car Park in light of fewer cars parking in the Town Centre.
Councillor Julian Price said: “The fact that fewer people are parking in the Town Centre really does throw open the question why Swindon’s Conservative administration have borrowed £15m to build a new town centre car park. This £15m will be coming out of everybody’s council taxes so it needs to be spent with a credible business plan for the money to be paid back. And the fact that fewer cars are being parked in the Town Centre suggests there is no credible way the Council will gets its money back. It will just become a financial drag on council-taxpayers for years to come.
At the time the Conservatives made this decision, the Labour Group questioned whether there was a need for a new car park and Councillor Perkins and the Conservative Group said there would be. Yet the figures appear to contradict them.
For the sake of the people of Swindon I hope the Conservative administration makes a success out of the new car park, but the evidence is increasingly mounting up that the new Car Park will become another Town Centre disappointment just as it is on the cusp of being opened.”
Cllr Julian Price
Swindon Labour Group Shadow Lead for Transport & Strategic Planning