District Council Reject Three Hours Free Parking Proposal For Burgess Hill
5th January 2014
by Peter Chapman

Mid Sussex District Council discussed a proposal for three hours free parking in Burges Hill at their latest meeting which resulted in it being rejected by the ruling party.

The debate was triggered as the Labour group collected in exess of 1,300 signatures from local residents and traders who were keen to see the idea introduced as a way of boosting the town centre trade.

Labour Group Leader and town councillor Dave Andrews has written to BHU and you the readers with the following:

We are grateful to your contributors of all political persuasions who were amongst the over 1500 residents who signed the petition calling for a free three hour parking system for Burgess Hill. We are particularly pleased that the overwhelming majority of small traders in the town also signed and in some cases helped to organise the petition.

The case was clearly made that free parking rejuvenates smaller towns as has been proved in places across the Country. In Sussex, councils from Bexhill in the East to Midhurst in the West have seen improvements with the introduction of a period of free parking. It is also acknowledged to work in our local larger villages such as Hurstpierpoint and Hassocks and at Christmas when parking concessions are made to boost trade in Burgess Hill.

Regrettably, having first prayed to God, asking him to give them the wisdom to treat all opposing views with respect, the Conservative led Council then proceeded to completely ignore the serious points raised by the petition and to treat the residents who signed it with total disrespect, characterising them as people who would sign anything for a free lunch. Needless to say they rejected the petition and decided to continue with the current parking charges. The Liberal Democrats abstained!

The contributions of our local Conservative Councillors, supposedly looking after the interests of our town, were predictably dismal. Cllr Barrett-Miles rambled on about motivation, electioneering etc presumably forgetting that we have been banging on about parking for at least three years. The Mayor, Councillor Anne Jones, champion of Burgess Hill voted to stick with the Conservative line and ignore the views of the 1500 people (which would have been hundreds more had we had the time) and also the views of the smaller traders in the town.

We believe that this shows how out of touch the Council is with their arrogant, born to rule, we know what is best for you mentality. The Labour Party in Burgess Hill will continue to fight in the interests of the people of the town always putting Burgess Hill first. This will be particularly important with the Town Centre proposals coming forward and with signs that major housing development may not deliver anything like the amount of funding for the Community that we have been promised.

Finally for the avoidance of any doubt we consider Burgess Hill to be a good place to live with a great community and real potential. To suggest improvement does not mean we are running the town down it means we are keen on making a fine town even better.

Yours sincerely,

Councillor David Andrews.

Council Issue Press Release:
Interestingly, Mid Sussex District council have taken the unusual step of putting out a press release, no doubt to attempt to counter what may have appeared on BHU (i.e this report!) You can see what they've had to say here in a piece titled 'Councillors Support The Local Economy'

It's a rather strange offering from MSDC. They've claimed that they've done many things to boost our town centre, yet the examples have no influence on the prosperity of our town's traders at all!

Got an opinion on this story? Leave a comment below....
Are you surprised that MSDC councillors rejected the proposals? What do you make of their claims they've done many things to boost Burgess Hill Town Centre? Can you think of anything? We can't!