Sefton Council are being accused of playing Scrooge this Christmas – and doing so in an underhand manner.
Lib Dem Town Centre Councillor has discovered that Sefton Council have secretly withdrawn their free Christmas Parking in order to save money. The estimated £25,000 saved by charging for parking in the three weeks running up to Christmas is less that the Council has just spent on consultants for their Southport Town Centre strategy.
The Council has told no one about their cheapskate move this year – not even the Councillors and the Members of Parliament.
“Everyone assumed that the free Christmas Parking would be the same this year as last year,” says Councillor Tony Dawson, “It was recognised as being an essential aid to our town’s traders over the Christmas period.”
“The free parking over the past few years has kicked off on ‘Small Business Saturday’, which this year is December 5th. It seems to me that Sefton Council’s approach to Small Business Saturday is to make Southport’s small businesses smaller.”
“I thought that Sefton Council was in partnership with the Southport BID to help our town’s retailers in their battle to counter the effects of Liverpool One and the Internet on their business. It seems to me, however, that Scrooge Sefton have stuck the knife in to Southport’s Xmas shopping. What is more, they have done it in secret without letting anyone know. The Bootle Labour bosses who have kicked our town’s retailers and shoppers where it hurts, have allowed this decision to be made in secret.”
Councillor Dawson has written to Council Leader Iain Maher enquiring how such a vital decision has been made without councillors being told about it or even consulted.
“The amount saved is roughly the same as what the Council has just pent on external consultants to produce a Southport ‘Strategy'” says Councillor Dawson.
“I am sharing no secrets by telling you that this ‘strategy’ could have been written on the back of a dozen envelopes in six weeks by a team of monkeys. It tells us nothing at all we did not already know. Free Christmas Parking in the town is worth far more to both our residents and our town’s traders.”
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