The MHK tasked with reviewing plans to introduce charges for residents’ parking permits says he is recommending that no charge be brought in.
But Chris Thomas (Douglas West) says it is clear that many aspects of residential parking need to be improved.
Plans to introduce a £25 fee for parking permits provoked outcry when they were announced by Infrastructure Minister Phil Gawne in October as part of a package of measures aimed at a tackling a £5m cut in his department’s budget.
Even Mr Gawne’s own cabinet colleague, Minister for Policy and Reform Chris Robertshaw, described the DoI’s handling of the issue as ‘bonkers’.
Mr Thomas was asked to look at how a charge could be implemented in combination with other measures designed to benefit permit holders, and organised three public meetings in Douglas involving the directors of highways, planning and finance.
He told the Examiner: ‘The review will not be completed until the New Year but I am recommending to the Minister that there is no charge for residents parking permits next spring although it is clear that many aspects of the residents parking scheme can be improved. The review will include recommendations.’
Mr Thomas said there are two issues - the DoI’s 2014/15 budget, and Douglas parking policy and island transport strategy more generally.
He said: ‘The timescale for necessary enhancement of the latter goes beyond the date when an unreasonable charge would be levied on a small group of Douglas residents. Moreover, the charge proposed is not properly allocated and the cost of introducing it is greater than any benefit.
‘Improving the parking in Douglas involves detailed investigation street-by-street as well as new approaches to administration and enforcement of the scheme, and better policy and planning.’
Mr Gawne insisted his was a department that ‘listens’. He said he was disappointed it had not got the message across that it needed to raise funds to sort out the parking problems in Douglas. He said an IT solution likely to save thousands of pounds in parking permit administration was now ‘towards the top of the queue’.