Free Parking in Tenbury

As a token of their great generosity, Malvern Hills District Council have bestowed on the good people of Tenbury free parking starting from 30th November and lasting until Christmas.

Well that's the headline. The small print is that it only applies to parking on Fridays and Saturdays. Thankfully there is a good amount of Free Parking available in Tenbury if you know where to look.

That is a total of 8 days. This will loose the Council approximately £336 in revenue, about £4.20 per shop or 10p per head of population of Tenbury.

Of course they could have allowed free parking for the whole month but that would have been 36p per person!

Malvern Hills DC official position is as I understand it, that if they allow free car parking in one car park, then they have to allow it in all. Although the Teme Street Car Park provides only a minimal amount of revenue, other car parks in the district are big money earners.
Due to the small number of Tax generating properties in Tenbury, the facilities in Tenbury are a drain in the districts resources. Perhaps if the council had been more proactive in developing the business park, the area may have at least been revenue neutral?

£378,000 for MHDC. How much for Tenbury?

ADVANTAGE West Midlands is to provide Malvern Hills District Council with £178,000 to help the clean up effort after flooding in Tenbury and Upton.

MHDC will receive a further £200,000 from £6.2 million made available for 36 local authorities by the Government as part of a flood recovery package.

Perhaps with all this extra money the MHDC can reconsider allowing free parking in Tenbury Car Park whilst the on-street parking spaces are all being used by Builders,Shopfitters and other Flood Restoration companies.Last I heard the Council Spokesman said that Car Parks were a vital source of income for the Council. Well the Tenbury one does 'take' £1500 a month, but in the scope of things, the loss of this income for a few months is hardly likely to make the Council go bust!

Knowing how money grabbing MHDC are, and how they have little or no regard for Tenbury, I wonder how much of this money will reach the intended destination. I hope the Auditors will be watching!

A great letter in the Tenbury Advertiser

See it here.