Parking permits voting deadline extended
Residents in North East Lincolnshire have been given more time to vote on council plans to raise the cost of parking permits by 433%.
The council plans to increase the annual fee from £15 to £80 in parts of Grimsby and Cleethorpes.
Residents had until 12 October to vote but the deadline was extended to 26 October after a lack of responses.
If a majority do not agree, the council said it would scrap regulated parking in the area.
Increase 'too high'
Jason Longhurst, head of development at North East Lincolnshire Council, said: "It is vital that people tell us whether they want to continue with the scheme or not. What we don't want is for people to say nothing.
"We need at least 45% of people from each parking scheme area who have received the questionnaires to tell us if they are prepared to pay the increased costs or not. If this doesn't happen then we will automatically remove the permit scheme for that area."
The council said it had so far only received 20% of the questionnaires.
Brenda Dixon, secretary of the Park Ward Action Group, said that if permits were scrapped then many residents feared that workers at local businesses would use up the available parking spaces.
She added people understood that costs had to rise but the proposed increase was too high.
Peter Wheatley, portfolio holder for regeneration and environment at the council, said the cost of parking permits had not changed since 2003. But the planned increase would cover "administration and operations costs".