£10,000 Car Parks vs Park & Ride Battle

2.17.07pm GMT Mon 9th Oct 2006

Liberal Democrats have slammed the Borough Council for spending £10,000 on advertising Council car parks in a battle to win back drivers from public transport and park and ride.

Cllr Michael Headley said "This is a ridiculous idea. It runs right against the council's so called aim to be a green borough. One minute they are rightly encouraging people to use public transport and then the next moment they are trying to woo people back into using the town centre car parks. The money would be better spent promoting Bedford town centre itself. That way more people will come to town by all transport methods. Competing with Park and Ride and bus travel for existing shoppers is not the way forward. "

Michael Headley added "The Council's green commitment is shown up to be no more than warm words. When it comes down to actual action this decision shows that they would rather see people start driving again to town than using the bus and taking away Council car park income."