Angus parking charges will remain suspended for six months and the “reset button” pressed in a full review of the controversial scheme as part of the drive to put the area’s economy back on track.
The move came as Angus Council’s finance spokesman placed the county’s economic recovery high on the agenda in a redrawing of the authority’s budget to deal with a £10 million-plus Covid-19 financial blow.
After UK and Scottish Government funding, Angus still has a near £4m budget gap to plug and will dip into reserves to meet three quarters of that.
Finance spokesman Angus MacMillan Douglas said the prudent performance of preceding years – Angus has shaved £55m from spending in the last seven years and was targeting £10m of savings in 2020/21 – had put the council in a stronger position to deal with the huge fiscal stresses of the coronavirus crisis.
“We have built up reserves for a rainy day, so it is not unreasonable now to use part of them,” said the Kirriemuir Conservative.
“We have balanced our budget, are protecting services for our citizens and are doing what we can to assist the Angus economy by way of our economic recovery programme.”
The parking charges move was added to the revised budget plan by communities convener, Montrose Independent Mark Salmond.
He received unanimous backing for his amendment to suspend the off-street charges – heavily criticised since their re-introduction at the end of 2018 – until the end of the financial year on March 31, and for an Angus-wide review of both on and off-street parking.
“None of us know how long the economic effects of Covid-19 are going to continue to impact negatively on Angus high streets,” said Mr Salmond.
Angus Council
Angus Council works to create strong secure communities, an enterprising workforce, and sustainable development over the range of public services for which it has responsibility. We are a customer and citizen focused organisation and work to deliver accessible, effective and efficient services for the county\'s population.
