Free Christmas car parking faces the axe as part of council savings in Stafford

Stafford Borough Council has traditionally offered town centre visitors the festive free parking bonus on Saturdays in December to help boost trade for local businesses and encourage more people to shop locally.

Last month parking charges were waived after 1pm on December 17 and 24 – Christmas Eve. Councillor Frances Beatty, cabinet member for economic development and planning, said: “These traditional free parking afternoons have always proved popular with shoppers and retailers in the run up to Christmas Day.”

But the authority is not facing such a happy new year as it looks to balance the books in the wake of rising costs and uncertainty over how local government will be funded in the future. Budget proposals currently under consideration to help relieve financial pressures include a number of savings that could be made, from reducing colour printing and cutting energy costs through LED lighting to “efficiencies” in areas such as phone operating systems and pest control.

The council is also looking to save £233,000 in each of the next two years through leasing vacant areas of its Civic Centre to other organisations. And the recently-approved moved to share more services with neighbouring Cannock Chase Council is expected to claw back £144,000 in 2023/24 and £544,000 in 2024/25.

A proposal to remove concessionary parking, which could save a more modest £15,000 each year, sparked questions at two recent scrutiny committee meetings as members sought more information about what it would mean. Councillors asked if the proposal meant an end to a parking scheme for elected members and they were told it would involve the removal of free parking in council-run car parks in the run-up to Christmas.

Stafford town centre representative Councillor Chris Baron said: “It really is mean – talk about Scrooge. I think we should say bah humbug.”

Councillor Aidan Godfrey said: “It probably illustrates the state of our finances at the moment when we have to save £15,000 and take away – Scrooge-like- free parking at Christmas. It helps the shops and everything else in the town.”

The authority is looking step in to keep the fireworks display running at the annual Christmas lights switch-on event however. Previously the fireworks were funded by an outside organisation and the council now plans to pay the £8,000 cost.

Councillor Beatty said: “It was paid for by the Guildhall in the past. We don’t want to give up on Christmas.

“We will take into account the views of the committees when we consider the decision that is made.”

Garden waste collection and and car parking charges are set to be frozen during 2023. But Councillor Godfrey questioned a £3 increase in the annual fee for garden waste collection proposed for next year.

The charge for the optional service is currently £36 for the year and was brought in two years ago. Councillor Godfrey called it an “in your face tax” in response to Councillor Ralph Cooke’s description of the £36 charge, brought in two years ago, as a “stealth tax”.

Councillor Mike Smith, the authority’s cabinet member for resources, said last month that there had been a “limited” increase in fees and charges for 2023. But he added: “There are no easy choices”.

“The same financial pressure we are feeling as individuals due to inflation is also being felt by the council. The cost of pay rises and energy bills have a particularly large impact and we are not increasing our income in proportion to our costs.

“This means we have to make savings. We have tried to choose options that minimise any impact on our services and of the proposed shortfall between income and expenditure next year I am proposing half will be funded from reserves and half from savings and new income.”

There have been changes to the figures since the budget report presented to the cabinet and committees was produced, members were told. The proposed local government finance settlement for councils for 2023/24 was not announced until just days before Christmas – and more than two weeks after initial budget proposals were presented to the borough council’s cabinet at the start of December.

Councillor Ralph Cooke, speaking at the latest Resources Scrutiny Committee meeting, said: “Central Government create major problems for us and officers as a local authority. We’ve had this problem with Government for years.

“They tend to think one year at a time and expect us to think four or five years at a time but don’t give us the information or data to enable us to plan properly for a four or five year period. And then they wonder why people are tearing their hair out about it, saying ‘how the hell do you expect us to plan without the data which we need in good time’.”