MY response to 'Parking review to improve service and save money'.

Firstly, I would ask the question : who is to benefit from such a saving?

Do the words 'save money' mean the Forest of Dean District Council saving the expense it previously incurred, passing on the associated charges to the electorate disguised under a separate accounting header?

If such a saving is likely – what will the reduction in Council Tax be to the individual householder if the district council is claiming there could be possible savings in the region of £400,000?

If the answer to this question is, as I expect, NIL, then it is not a saving, merely a means of the district council increasing its income streams to meet its medium term financial deficit at the electorate's expense!

If district councils are being paid for 'agency work' on behalf of Gloucestershire County Council then if this income source is withdrawn will the district councils have to increase their Council Tax to cover the appropriate loss of income. The answer, however wrong, is probably yes – again at the electorate's expense!

'Room for improvement' the press statement says. I should jolly well think so – but why has no-one addressed prior?

There is a sixth option however. That would be to hand over all the car parking responsibility to that of the individual town and parish councils, allow them to play an active role in their own communities.

Yes there would still need to be an increase in precept by those councils participating in such a scheme, but the increase would almost certainly be far less than the one which is to shortly be imposed. Why not let the electorate decide?

A recent petition which gained the unreserved support of 7,000 members of the electorate, all keen to sign in opposition, was obtained in under 10 days in just three towns in the Forest.

How many signatures or calls for a referendum would there have been if the time frame had been extended, if everyone in the Forest had been consulted and asked their opinion?

It would at least then have been a democratic decision, one I and fellow councillors would have been only too willing to concede.

However, currently our hands are tied and we must bow to the current Cabinet structure which allows for such decisions to be taken by just five members!

There is no freeze on Council Tax or a 'standstill' approach. At a recent district meeting it was stated that the green waste collection last year cost £427,000.

Later this year will see this service resulting in a charge to you the electorate. Council Tax is not being reduced by the £427,000 however – maybe this is what is meant by 'a freeze'.

The council will freeze the high amount the electorate are charged while ensuring it reduces or hives off other community services such a CCTV and winter road maintenance services to the parish/towns councils which then results in the electorate being charged twice!

Add to this the additional £118,000 the district council is to receive for 'abiding by the political game', and the net result appears to be a £545,000 increase in the council's income versus increased expense/reduced services for the electorate.

A Council Tax freeze – I don't think so!

Bill Osborne

Mayor of Lydney