Conservatives: Axe unwanted Bristol parking zones

Conservatives have joined calls for proposed resident parking zone pilots in Clifton Wood and Kingsdown to be scrapped.

The majority of residents in each area that voted on the £1.2 million proposals were against them, but the Liberal Democrats at Bristol City Council have rejected appeals from campaigners to abandon the zones. The cabinet is due to make a decision on the Clifton Wood zone at its next meeting on March 25, and the council has recommended an unelected senior officer rules on the Kingsdown zone at a later date. The Tories are calling for those decisions to be delayed, as they have tabled a motion for the next full council meeting on March 30 calling for the zones to be abandoned.

The motion, to be moved by Councillor Barbara Lewis, says: "Council notes the outcome of the final round of public consultation on the proposed introduction of two residential parking zones pilots in the city. The published results showed that a clear majority of respondents to the survey in Clifton Wood and Kingsdown had voted against these schemes.

"Furthermore, council recalls that residents were previously given express assurances that there would be proper consultation on the revised schemes and that these would proceed only if the majority of local residents supported them. Council is particularly concerned to learn that a section of the polled Kingsdown district has now apparently been discounted, retrospectively, in order to alter the overall 'No' vote returned. Consequently, council calls on the Liberal Democrat administration to respect the people's verdict on RPZs and shelve both unwanted pay-to-park pilots."

The council was accused of gerrymandering over the Kingsdown vote, a term used when political boundaries are changed to produce the desired result.

Of 565 people who voted in Kingsdown, 47 per cent were against, just under 45 per cent were in favour and eight per cent were undecided. But with the area north of Cotham Road removed, the vote turns to a yes by 0.6 per cent. Of 457 voting households in Clifton Wood, 57 per cent were against, 38 per cent supported them and four per cent were undecided.

Acting Tory leader Councillor Geoffrey Gollop has written to council leader Barbara Janke requesting the decision is deferred due to the controversy over the zones. Executive member for transport Councillor Jon Rogers said: "The decision will be made at March cabinet as planned."

If the zones are approved vehicle owners would pay £30 a year for one permit, another £80 for a second and £200 more for a third.