Bradford West MP George Galloway has urged Bradford MDC to retain a measure of free parking in the city centre for the benefit of local businesses.
'There are enough disincentives to shopping in the centre of Bradford, what with the hole in its heart and the Odeon in cling-film, making it even more difficult and costly to park should not be another,' George Galloway said. 'Out of town retail parks already offer free parking and if we are to encourage people to shop locally then one of the measures surely must be to offer the same, for a limited period, say 30 minutes. The council is already budgeting to double the income from city-centre parking and this dispensation, while I accept it might slightly reduce that additional revenue, would be more than compensated by the increased trade city centre shops would enjoy.'
The MP continued, 'We have to help maintain the businesses which are already suffering. The council does not get much revenue from shops which have boarded-up and gone away. I hope the Environment and Waste Committee take note of this in their discussions on this on Thursday.'