The changes to the parking arrangement on the Isle of Wight proposed by the council’s Independents administration has attracted much discussion across the Island.
Amazingly the council claims they don’t know the final figure of how many people responded to them about it.
Quick recap
Back on 9 May, 2014, the council issued an official Notice, which by law they have to before making changes. It detailed the changes in the parking charges, which including a wholesale increase in the cost of parking charges and the removal of much previously-free parking.
By law, the council is required to give an opportunity for residents to write to them with their reaction to the upcoming changes. Many OnTheWight readers commented that they didn’t view this as a ‘Public consultation’ as the council had tried to frame it – more that it was required by law.
This gave the public a month to respond, with the closing date being 9 June 2014.
How did the public respond?
With the strength of public opinion being clear, OnTheWight contacted the council well after the closing date to find out how many responses the council had received.
It took a full two days for the council to come back with – “The responses are still being compiled. Will let you know when the figures are finalised.”
We’re still waiting.
So 18 days after the month-long consultation closed, the council claims that it still doesn’t have a finalised number of how many people responded.
Image: Robert Couse-Baker under a CC BY 2.0 license
