The Death of Easingwold 2nd Leg

Like a European football cup tie deep behind the Iron Curtain, a night that promised so much delivered so little, a goalless draw but we lost on the away goal rule.It has been decided now to have two new traffic management plans to contemplate (courtesy of NYCC who  seem to have got a little spooked by all the opposition to the existing plans), with Disc Parking part of both schemes, a full consultation with stakeholders (read plebs,  that’s me and you) will take place and then will be ignored as usual.The meeting started with the downright bizarre non-resignation of Town Mayor and Town Councillor John Tanner Smith. He only resigned as Chairman of Easingwold Town Council, not his role as Mayor or as a Town Councillor. We had more time allocated to this and the election of a new Chairman and Deputy than for the 15 minutes allotted for public debate (the Traffic Management). Our dear Councillors seemed to be still very upset after the last Town Council meeting and several aired their personal grievances against their very own electorate. With the election of a new Chairman (Mr B Taylor) the public session began in a very restrained mood after the previous meeting of 1st September. Only several people were able to air their views and many of the points raised were simply ignored (as the Chairman claimed they had been discussed at earlier meetings). What did startle many present were the ludicrous claims that Disc Parking would only apply Monday to Thursday (has anyone seen the details for Disc Parking?) not Friday (Market Day) which is usually the day cited for parking mayhem. I have since learned that the traffic wardens will be present only one day a week due to budget restrictions (what is the point?) and will turn up on different days each week.The very tone of the meeting left many in the public gallery bewildered by the nature of how the council seemed more concerned with etiquette and dull council machinations rather than public grievances. Council business should have been suspended and all the time available set aside to the Traffic Management Scheme and  proper public debate. If Town Council Meetings are inappropriate for this then a proper public meeting should be held in the near future so all residents can be given a platform to air their opinions with NYCC and Town Council in attendance.High handed morality and we know best/difficult decision need to be taken attitude does not work at national level and certainly does not work here. For all of us will have to bear the consequences for their actions for many years to come. At present we are in the worst economic recession in living memory and our lords and masters want to waste more of our hard earned money on crackpot schemes which will be costly to implement and maintain and which may well result in the closure of many local businesses and facilities in the years to come.For now keep up the pressure with letters to the Town Council and NYCC Highways and try to get family and friends from outside the area to write too. When the new plans are announced we will let everybody know through The Easingwold Advertiser & Weekly News.Finally I came across the following on Hambleton District Council Website by Faber Maunsell called Car Park Charging Strategy Final Report, this was compiled for HDC and is available to read in full from http://www.hambleton.gov.uk/transport/parking/charging.htm The section I have pulled out is only about Easingwold and is on page 49 and 50 of the document minus the table:1.2.5 EasingwoldIn Easingwold the Council only manages off-street, long stay car parking spaces, within the town centre and Market Place there is a considerable stock of unrestricted parking available.Based on the model assumptions Table C6 shows the predicted income that may be generated through the implementation of car park charging in Easingwold.The assessment shows that income between £7,000 and £20,000 may be generated in Easingwold depending on the charging model used. However, due to the large volume of unrestricted parking adjacent to the long stay car parks in the town centre it is expected that it would be unlikely that this revenue would be generated and the majority of vehicles would make use of the unrestricted parking nearby.We are aware that NYCC has approved disc parking within the Market Place and is looking at how this could be implemented, should this be implemented it is possible that a car park charge is considered for the long stay car parks.It is recommended that car park charging not be considered in Easingwold until sufficient parking restrictions are implemented in the other town centre parking locations.This makes for interesting reading and certainly paves the way for paid parking in the long term.Editor


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