Responses and Quotes

Responses and Quotes Received in Reply to our Letters to Candidates

Response to the 160 letters we sent out to Powys County Council candidates continue to come in. Whilst it is true that not all respondents have been universally supportive, most are.

We take this opportunity to quote some of the responses we have received, and those replies we have sent in return. Quoted below are comments from respondents marked *

Supporting our call for an Immediate review of traffic and car parking throughout Powys :

Cllr. John Steadman – Ystradgynlais
Cllr. Margaret Morris – Glasbury
Robert Golesworthy – Gwernyfed
Cllr. Gareth Ratcliffe – Hay
Keith Tampin – Llandrindod Wells East & West
Cllr. Gareth Morgan – Llanidloes
Dr John Morgan – Llanerchyddol Ward Welshpool *
Cllr. Mike Williams – Machynlleth *
Cllr. Kathryn Silk – Bwlch
Cllr. David Jones – Guilsford *
Mary Fellowes – Bwlch
Christine Williams - Llanfair Caereinion
Chris Davies - Glasbury
Liz Davies – Bronllys
Rob Harper - Churchstoke
John Pratt – Felin Fach
Peter Medlicott – Knighton
Paul Ashton – Brecon St Mary
Megan Lloyd – Builth Wells
John Milsom – Old Radnor

Qualified support has also been received from :

Sarah Reast – Llanbrynmair *
John Milsom – Old Radnor *
Brian Lopez – Llandrindod Wells East & West *

Acknowledgements have been received but no opinion expressed from :

Cllr. Linda Corfield – Forden
John Wilding

Worth quoting are the following respondents :

From: John Milsom - Old Radnor

Bearing in mind that parking is not uppermost in the minds of the electors of the Old Radnor ward, and that many are more concerned with parking in Kington than in Powys.
But yes, there have been a lot of complaints recently about parking in Hay, and from what I have heard, parking regs are being enforced there in a pretty rigid and unimaginative fashion.
So yes, there is room for a review.
Having said that, if you are also promoting the idea of residents' only parking, I am against. It cuts down the amount of parking available to people coming in to shop, and so is bad for business (and bad for the people of Old Radnor Ward). And, if my daughter's experience in London is anything to go by, it can turn into a way in which council can fleece the residents, some of whom will have little choice but to pay the charges, whatever they are.

We responded

Thanks for your response. I hope you will get an opportunity to look at our proposals as outlined in our blog. In fact we don't call for residents only parking; our proposals have been carefully worked out to provide two zones in towns, the first to be only visitors' parking with half and one hour parking allowed plus some disabled and and visitors' restricted to half and one hour waiting only. There are only a very few residents only parking areas, restricted to particularly difficult areas and very limited in number. In the outer zone (we call it zone 2.) which is the area where most residents live, parking is time restricted to 1 hour, from 8:00am to 6:00pm 7 days a week. HOWEVER residents displaying a permit will be allowed to park in such zones without restriction of time. The idea is that many residents do not use these areas during normal working hours and it is important we provide sufficient visitors' places to encourage commerce.

The plan has been quite carefully worked out and if you find it difficult to locate it on our blog, please contact me and I can happily email you the details. I hope that answers some of your questions. We believe it important that representatives of both rural and urban wards support the campaign. We must encourage people from out of town to visit, shop and generally use our towns. In passing, we have also proposed the use of the town's cattle market parking during non-market days, as overflow parking. We do believe that this scheme has been something of a 'cash cow' for the council and have put in two Freedom of Information requests to find out the costs of setting up the scheme and most importantly, the income derived against the running costs. Answers have been promised by 25th April!

Best wishes and I hope this will persuade you to support the campaign


From Brian A Lopez – Llandrindod Wells East & West

Thank you for your recent undated and unsigned communication that I received in Saturday morning's mail delivery.
Until receipt, I was completely unaware of your campaign and whilst expressing support for it generally, I appreciate the complexity of the matter, especially as it relates to the whole of Powys as an entity.
Having resided in Ithon Road in Llandrindod Wells for in excess of twenty years - and previously in Ffynnon Gynydd -1 have been aware of a parking problem in my immediate neighbourhood for some while. However, since I have got on the ground by canvassing the two wards that I seek to represent on Powys County Council, I have become aware of at least three other parking and/or traffic circulation problems within these wards at the centre of our town.
Therefore, I imagine that as Llandrindod is only one of about ten centres of population within Powys that has vehicular problems of one sort or another the whole matter is far greater than I can currently imagine.
Therefore, whilst I accept the urgency of the subject, due to the complexity of the problem and in order to do justice to all the communities within the County, I find myself unable to accept the word IMMEDIATE but recognise the need for a comprehensive and thorough review to be undertaken at an early convenient and programmed opportunity.
In replying I find myself responding to an anonymous pressure group identifying itself with what I consider to be an offensive mnemonic as its title. Should there be future contacts between ourselves I would prefer to know with I am corresponding, or meeting, and without the use of a vulgar epithet to identify itself.

We responded

Thank you for responding to my mail shot. First I should explain that I have quite deliberately tried to keep my name out of the campaign preferring that any publicity should concentrate on the campaign rather than any one person. Further, I believe my anonymity allows the campaign to be seen as non-political, single issue and not associated any supporter’s perceived preferences or political stance. It does and has allowed me to acknowledge the support on the blog of all and any who are in sympathy with our aims.

Regarding your comments about CRAP being an offensive mnemonic, when I started the campaign in April last year, I needed a name for the original local questionnaire and decided that a Rational Approach to Parking described what I hoped to achieve. In discussion with others, I changed Rational to Realistic and the campaign was launched. I decided that the resulting acronym C.R.A.P was memorable and likely to attract the attention of the media; and so it has proved.

I accept the term Crap is offensive to many, is certainly vulgar in the proper use of the word, but it is in common usage and its definition of ‘ worthless, useless or lacking in ability’ I felt aptly described what I considered had been the County’s inept approach to the adoption of Civil Parking Enforcement in April last year. Nonetheless I must apologise if you find it particularly distasteful.

I note your reservations regarding my choice of requiring an ‘immediate’ review of traffic and parking, but please understand that we have been working on a plan for a year in Hay and despite receiving specific promises of reform from the Powys politicians and officers responsible for traffic and parking, being told that our plan could be used as a blueprint for the county and a unanimous vote in July last year to bring forward a review, nothing has been done. It will be all too simple for the new Powys administration to procrastinate unless our campaign results in a better appreciation of the problem among both the public and our newly elected councillors.
Nonetheless, I recognise your inability to accept ‘immediate’ in the wording of our campaign and shall record your statement accordingly.

The story of our year long campaign is recorded on our blog crap-powys.blogspot.com.

Should you have any queries, or further comments, please do not hesitate to contact me.


From Sarah Reast – Llanbrynmair :

Thank you for your letter asking for my support for your campaign. As my
Llanbrynmair ward is extremely rural, parking is not an issue that
directly relates to us here so I can not honestly say I can represent the
constituents views on an issue that that barely affects them. However, if
I am elected then I will be in a position to view the matter from a more
County wide perspective and would be very interested then to re-visit it.
Watch this space!
Good luck.

We responded that we believe that a review of traffic and parking is as important for the rural community in Powys as it is for the urban dweller. We all hope that Powys continues to prosper and thrive and attracting both residents and visitors to use and shop in our towns is to the advantage of all of us, wherever we live in the county.


From David Jones – Guilsford

Thank you for your letter. It is not like Powys to be slow to provide a service. I suggest you take the matter up again with the relevant cabinet member who, I am sure is straining at the lease to justify his 40% salary increase. I think it will be more useful to go for a change of cabinet at Powys. In the meantime I support your campaign to have orderly parking in Powys with the proviso that the council is not allowed to make a profit out of motorists parking outside their own homes.

Best wishes for the campaign


From Cllr. Mike Williams - Machynlleth

Thank you for your recent letter regarding this matter and I respond as follows: I support an IMMEDIATE review of traffic and car parking throughout Powys. Incidentally, I raised this matter at the most recent meeting of Montgomeryshire, stating the deep concern of Machynlleth Town Council and myself, and calling for an appropriate Powys County Councillor officer to meet with the Council.

With all good wishes to your campaign


From Dr John Morgan - Llanerchyddol Ward Welshpool

Thank you for your lobbying letter which I collected from my mail box barely half a mug of coffee ago. I have been involved in casework in trying to get residents parking permits, even if only for reserved occupations and severely disabled, in the Mount St area of Welshpool and have been frustrated by the lack of progress since what seemed a ray of light appeared all those months ago. Therefore on the basis of you lobbying letter I fully endorse your campaign and will challenge its objectives as stated should I be elected on the 3 May. I also want to know why the portfolio member in charge hasn't progressed matters, maybe the electorate will hold him to account.

Thus:
I support an IMMEDIATE review of traffic and car parking throughout Powys.

More Quotes to Follow