Free Saturday parking proposal rejected by Kells councillors

A proposal to fund free parking in Kells on Saturdays by cutting out funding for foreign travel by councillors, was rejected at a meeting of Kells Town Council last week. Councillors voted instead to examine the possibility of providing free parking at the end of the year if money was available. Councillors had earlier heard that free parking on Saturdays could help save businesses in Kells when a delegation from the town's traders addressed the meeting. Geraldine Walsh pointed out that businesses were closing in the town and few, if any, were replacing them. She asked that free parking be provided in Kells on a Saturday from 11am or that some other concession be introduced, such as giving a second hour free if somebody paid for one hour. She said that the free parking during the run-up to Christmas had literally saved businesses in Kells. Cllr Sean Drew proposed the council provide free or subsidised parking on as many Saturdays as possible in 2010 that could be funded from €11,000. He said the €11,000 could be obtained by cutting out expenses for conferences, foreign travel and council entertainment. Cllr Conor Ferguson proposed instead that the council examine their funds in October and, if there was funding available at that time, it could be used to fund free parking. The three Fianna Fail councillors, Cllrs Drew, Bryan Reilly and Frankie Lynch, as well as Fine Gael's Cllr Sarah Reilly, voted for Cllr Drew's motion, while Cllr Brian Curran (Independent), Sinn Fein's Cllr Ferguson, Fine Gael's Cllr Oliver Reilly and Labour's Cllr Brian Curran and Tommy Grimes voted for Cllr Ferguson's motion. Councillors heard that, last year, parking on Saturdays netted the council between €900 and €1,200 per day, and town clerk Jarlath Flanagan said that, this year, revenue for parking for January was down in comparison to last year. Councillors also heard that the introduction of VAT on council services would mean they would have to either increase parking charges in July or pay the additional charges themselves. Cllr Drew said that some form of free parking on a Saturday would greatly assist in boosting sales in the shops of Kells, and the council could discuss with the traders whether to utilise the €11,000 from the travel and entertainment budgets by providing free parking on 10 specific Saturdays or some alternative system. "The traders are the people on the ground and, if they are of the opinion that free parking will be of benefit to them in this recessionary period, then we must listen to their request and assist them in the retention of business and employment in our town. In these difficult economic times, the council must prioritise how it spends its limited income to maximise the benefit for the people of the town," he said. Cllr Sarah Reilly said it was easy to cut items from a budget, but the hard part was to come up with new ways for the council to make money. She told councillors that for every clothes bank they placed on council property, the council would receive €1,000 and she also suggested selling advertising space in the council car parks. She added that, if free parking was provided, a number of businesses should come on board to allow the council to do an analysis on whether it was successful. Cllr Tommy Grimes said the officials would have to do a costing to see if it was possible to provide free parking and when that was done, they would see if anything could be done about it. Cllr Frankie Lynch said many businesses were struggling and they should provide free parking to help boost business. Cllr Brian Collins said the main reason business was suffering was because of all the money that had been sucked out of the local economy by job losses and pay cuts following three deflationary budgets. Cllr Bryan Reilly said business people in Kells were fighting for survival and they should take action to help, Cllr Oliver Sweeney said they would have to look at proper costings before they could do it. Cllr Brian Curran said he didn't think free parking would make a difference in Kells. Landlords needed to reduce rents and businesses should be looking for a reduction of other costs such as accountants and insurance. Following the meeting, Meath County Councillor John Farrelly condemned the antics of Cllr Drew and his Fianna Fail colleagues in giving the impression to hard-pressed local businesspeople that by cutting the limited expenses of the members of the council, they could provide free parking on a Saturday, when there was nothing further from the truth. "This is an old Fianna Fail tactic. If they are not in charge of a local authority, they don't want anyone else doing anything to promote the town and financial motions such as these, within two months of the budget being passed and knowing they cannot be implemented, is misleading," he said. "Cllr Drew should remember that the reason businesspeople in Kells are in such difficulties is because of bad government management of the economy over the past 10 years and his party contributed massively to this problem," he added. Meanwhile, Cllr Catherine Yore has called on councillors to reduce substantially the number of trips and the amount spent by councillors on foreign and local trips. "While foreign travel, as well as local trips, and conferences have a role, given the current circumstances, that role must be a very limited one. If there is some purpose in travelling to further the prospect of job creation or investment in Meath, I suggest that we look at the feasibility of bringing prospective investors to Meath as an alternative." She added: "Frankly, I cannot see how overseas travel can be justified this year given the state of the roads and general shortage of money. There is a time and a place for these things and now is not the time."