Public Speaking
To note any requests to speak in accordance with the Council’s Public Speaking Scheme (see note at end of the agenda).
Minutes:
The Chair welcomed three members of the public to the meeting, namely Mrs Ellen Boylin, Mrs Mags Sinclair-Bailie and Mr Phil Gregg. All were present to address Council regarding potential changes to the residents’ parking scheme.
Speaker 1 – Mrs Ellen Boylin
“Good morning Madam Chair and thank you for the opportunity to address you all on the problems we foresee with the proposed changes to our visitors permits. We appreciate it doesn’t involve Rugby, it’s the whole of Warwickshire that is currently permitted.
Firstly, we feel these proposed changes to the visitor permitting are very unfair, unjust and totally unworkable. At the moment the details are very sketchy to say the least. We also feel it been an invasion of our privacy to have to log each and every visitor. And who will be registering with yourself? The County Council or NSL who it has been outsourced to, and to try and limit just to 50 visits per year is just unacceptable on so many levels. Is that 50 hours, 50 actual visits or 50 days? It is not clear and at what cost? At the moment, we all feel it feels very much like “Big Brother” is watching us. I’ve queried this with the council and Mr John Rollinson assures me that the council has no interest in how many visitors we actually receive.
So, in which case we are asking why are we having the register them at all? We have a lot of minority groups within the Rugby borough and I’ll leave my fellow neighbour here to address these issues in more detail when he speaks but I would like to give you a couple of examples from people who have contacted me. Number 1 is a single mother with two children, and she is concerned because she only currently has a resident’s permit which is £25 a year but she cannot afford a visitor’s permit which is also £25 a year. But as under the current proposal she wouldn’t be able to afford anything, but also as a single mum she occasionally needs help from her parents but has no visitor permit to give them. Equally her parents cannot risk the chance of getting a parking ticket. I’m sure those who are in the room who are parents and grandparents will acknowledge that children come with various risks i.e. they often need to be taken to a doctor’s appointments, hospital appointments etc. so a car is a definite necessity.
My second example is an elderly neighbour who is very worried and upset, because she currently has a visitor’s permit just so her son can visit her for one hour a week to bring her shopping. This group I’m very concerned about. The elderly are often very lonely as well and rely on visitors. This lady has no computer or smartphone so how is she meant to register her visitors under the new proposal? This question has been asked to the Council and I think I ... view the full minutes text for item 1