Tuam councillors want full control over public parking rules
Concern over all-day parking rate
COUNCILLORS in Tuam could soon have full control over the cost and regulation for public parking within their district.
At present, all council-run carparks and street parking rules come under countywide bylaws. It leaves councillors with little power to make changes to pricing or introduce other measures specific to towns within their own districts.
This led to a motion from Councillor Donagh Killilea, which was passed at last week’s Tuam MD meeting, directing the council to introduce parking bylaws that are specifically for their district.
“Decisions on what we do with regards parking in Tuam does not need to be discussed at plenary level and approved by all the county’s councillors,” he explained to The Tuam Herald after the meeting.
“This change will allow us to bypass this step and do our own thing, as it is just too complicated trying to make any changes at the minute, trying to get together a plan for parking that is agreed to by all councillors and works in all parts of Galway.
“This is something which would take a lot of the bureaucracy out of the bylaws and give the power of parking within the Tuam MD, both on street and in our carparks, back to just the councillors within the district.”
Cllr Killilea is confident the motion, which should be drafted in time to be included on the agenda for the September plenary meeting, will be approved with little opposition.
He anticipates other districts will request similar bylaws after seeing the proposals from Tuam, a move which gives the power over parking in each district to those who know their towns best.
Should they be approved, the bylaws would go through the same process as the new drinking bylaws that are being introduced next month specifically for the Tuam MD.
They would be subject to a period of 30 days for public consultation and submissions, before being finalised and approved at a future MD meeting.
“There are so many different policies we could introduce if we had the power, such as free parking at Christmas to promote shopping in the town. The new bylaws mean we can do this without needing permission form the council,” added Cllr Killilea.
“I would think it is worth looking at free parking for a few hours in the morning. If you had it up until 10:30am, that would allow pensioners to come and pick up their pension in the post office and do their shopping without needing to worry about tickets.”
Last Monday’s meeting saw councillors discussing potential changes to parking bylaws which would allow them to introduce all day parking in the council-run carparks in Tuam, located in the Shambles and Bishop Street.
A deputation representing business owners of the town met council staff last November. Among their requests was all day parking, which they hoped would boost footfall and the time customers spent shopping in Tuam. They had hoped to see changes implemented before the end of the summer.
However, at the Tuam MDC meeting, after concerns were raised about the pricing structure available to members, councillors decided to leave the current arrangements in place and instead fight to get full power to make changes.
Many councillors had issues with the low prices for all day parking (€3), a rate set by the council and applied to all their carparks, believing it would lead to commuters parking up and heading for places likes Galway or Dublin on the bus instead of shopping in Tuam.
Such was the concern in the chamber; councillors took a short recess from their meeting to discuss in private if introducing all day parking at these prices was the right decision.
“I have spoken to the traders, they believe the €3 daily fee would be counterproductive and have asked us to leave the parking as it is for the time being,” commented Cllr Shaun Cunniffe after the recess.
“We need to look at creating a standalone policy for the MD, so we can introduce the parking rates and measures we deem necessary,” he concluded.