Yearly paid parking to be introduced in Guernsey

Deputy Mary Lowe brought the amendment for a yearly fee to the States.

She says it is better than pay and display.

Deputy Barry Brehaut isn't happy with the outcome of the paid parking debate.

Drivers in Guernsey will be paying yearly charges to park in long and short term car parks in future.

An amendment has been passed in the States which sees proposals for pay and display parking thrown out.

Instead, households will pay between £30 and £50 a year for parking disks.

The amendment was part of a bigger requete which stops any parking charges coming in until the bus service is 'fit for purpose.'

The Environment Department will now report back to the States on the state of the bus service and a date for the introduction of the parking charges will be decided.

Another amendment has been added to the paid parking debate in Guernsey.

Deputy Mary Lowe and Deputy Al Brouard have submitted proposals to introduce a parking clock with a yearly payment of between £30 and £50.

It would be for long and short stay parking in St Peter Port and the rest of the island.

It follows the failure yesterday of an amendment to throw out all paid parking plans.

An amendment to scrap paid parking in Guernsey has failed.

States Members voted 21-21 for the amendment, but as an amendment needs a a majority to be passed the tied vote means it has been lost.

That means plans to introduce paid parking in the island will go ahead.

The proposals will see cars being charged 60p per hour for long-term parking.

Guernsey's paid parking campaign has stepped up a gear after Deputy Lester Queripel handed a petition with more than 6,000 signatures to Environment Minister Yvonne Burford this morning.

The move comes comes just days before a major vote that could see the States do a u-turn on plans to bring in 60 pence an hour parking charges in St Peter Port.

The new charges were approved last year as part of the Road Transport Strategy but thousands of people have now voiced their concerns about the proposals.

The fees would likely be a key funding mechanism for the rest of the transport strategy, which includes providing a free bus service and improvements for cyclists and pedestrians.

Deputy Burford said she wants to listen to all voices and take everything into account when coming to a decision, but added that she hasn't yet heard a strong enough argument as to why being able to park in town all day for nothing should be the case.

Guernsey is set to have paid parking by the Autumn.

The States says it is planning to bring in charges by then so it has time to implement an improved and expanded Residents' Parking Scheme.

The introduction of paid-parking is part of the Environment Department's traffic strategy, which has been agreed by the States.

It means drivers will have to pay 60p an hour to park their cars.