NEW CHALLENGE OVER HIGHER PARKING CHARGES AT DAWLISH WARREN

The boss of Teignbridge car parks is being challenged over a broken promise that parking charges at Dawlish Warren will not go up this year.

The promise was made at a council meeting by Cllr Phil Bullivant, the Conservative in charge of the council owned car parks, earlier this month.

But research by the Liberal Democrats has confirmed the council does indeed plan to put up parking charges at Dawlish Warren from April.

And now they have put in a formal question to Teignbridge asking if councillors were misled by Cllr Bullivant when he promised there would be no increases at the Warren.

Liberal Democrat Alan Connett explained: " I couldn't believe my ears when I heard the Conservatives say there would be no increase in Warren parking charges. I double-checked the proposals and sure enough they do plan to put up the charges again this April.

"For someone who is supposed to be in charge of the car parks, it as a pretty monumental mistake to make. At least, I hope it was a mistake and not an attempt mislead councillors and the public. I have put in a question for the next Council meeting so we can clear this up.

"I would expect the Conservatives will either apologise for saying there would be no increase, when one is planned, or stop the increase altogether," added Cllr Connett.

When asked direct, Teignbridge Council itself confirmed an increase in Warren parking charges was on the cards. The council used Twitter to send a link so people could see the current and planned higher parking charges.

Parking at Dawlish Warren has become highly controversial in recent weeks, since a report was published proposing that the cheaper winter parking should be ended and year round parking should be at the higher summer prices. Some parking spaces could also be closed off or a few more weeks out of season

Teignbridge, which gets around £3.3 million a year in parking fees across the district, is understood to be still considering the report and its recommendations about Dawlish Warren, added Cllr Connett.