Parking Key to Voting Victory

The thorny issue of parking charges in Windsor could be a key element in the battle to win control of the Royal Borough.

As ruling Liberal Democrats square up to opposition Conservatives ready for the local government elections on May 3, both parties are blaming the other for dissatisfaction over parking in the town.

The Conservatives' leader Cllr David Burbage has announces his party will make short-term parking on the streets free if re-elected, for residents of the borough with Advantage Cards. At the moment they have to pay 10p.

Cllr Burbage said: "The machines can be temperamental and for such small sums we don't see why residents need to be annoyed any longer trying to find 10p or pay a whacking great fine. It doesn't make sense. If elected we're going to make short-term on-street parking free".

But the offer has brought a blistering retort from Lib Dem leader Cllr Mary Rose Gliksten who said it was the Conservatives who had introduced across-the-board on-street parking charges in the first placed, when they were in charge of the council.

She said: "It was the Tories who steamrollered through Windsor's on-street parking scheme against almost total opposition in 2002 and it was left to the Liberal Democrats to sort the whole thing out.

"Now they want to tear it all apart again".

She said that many Advantage Card holders came from outside Windsor and limited parking spaces would disappear in the town if they could park free of charge. She said: "It sends out a message of a free-for-all to anyone who wants to park on the streets of Windsor."

But Cllr Burbage replied by accusing the Lib Dems of failing to keep their promise at the last election to make evening parking free for residents.

Windsor could hold the key to the next Royal Borough election. Three Conservative wins in one ward in the centre of the town helped swing the whole Royal Borough under Tory control in 2000, only for it to be lost when the wins were reversed three years later.