Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

Commonsense on car parking.
Myself and several other councillors have consistantly attempted to negotiate more off-street parking (see recent article about the new affordable housing in Hilperton) but we have been regularly blocked by (mainly) Conservative members of the committee.

The more observant members of the committee (or perhaps those of us that actually get out-and-about other than at election time) have seen the problems caused by the government's flawed policies on parking provision.

It is therefore heartening to see that Essex County Council is lobbying for bigger garages (i.e. of a size that you can actually fit a car in) to be a requirement for new houses, together with better off-street parking.

The government drive (please excuse the pun) to encourage public transport is great in places like London, but they simply cannot accept that rural ares still rely heavilly on the car.