POLITICIANS will take to Morpeth's streets to press the case for fair parking charges.
Members of the local Conservative group will collect a petition calling on Northumberland County Council to undertake a review of all charges and bring in an equal policy for all.
The move follows a campaign from Morpeth and District Chamber of Tr
ade to introduce a single policy as currently shoppers in towns such as Morpeth and Alnwick have to pay for parking, while those in south east Northumberland can park for free.
County councillor David Towns, who has organised the petition, said: "The Chamber of Trade is a non-political organisation, but we want to show our support for what it is doing.
"We strongly believe that as we have a single unitary authority we should have a single county-wide car parking charging policy.
"I'm not saying we must introduce parking charges in the south east of the county, or give free parking to everybody. You can't make policy on the hoof. What I do want to see is a fair approach applied."
The county council is carrying out a review of parking arrangements across Northumberland to obtain more information about the issue.
However, Morpeth traders were dismayed when in a letter to MP Denis Murphy, Council Leader Jeff Reid said there would be no changes to the status quo on charging.
The petition will be collected on Saturday, November 14 to tie in with the opening weekend of Morpeth's new Sanderson Arcade development.
"We are expecting large crowds in Morpeth that weekend so we will be
able to get the opinions of a large number of people," said Coun Towns.
"We were hoping to do petitions in Alnwick and Berwick, but unfortunately we can't do them on the same day. We could do them at a later date and we're hoping to get some into shops and businesses.
"We may also look at doing something in Hexham."
He added: "Times are difficult and the county council has to make £33m of budget savings so we can't just have a free for all, but there is a lot of feeling that we have one council so why can't we have one parking policy?
"If car parking was being run by parish and town councils then you may understand why there are different policies, but that is not the case.
"We need a fair parking policy so there is a fair playing field for the various market towns and other parts of the county."
The Chamber of Trade has welcomed the petition.
Car Parking Sub-Committee Chairman Charles Robinson said: "While we are an apolitical organisation with no affiliation to any political party, we are delighted that one of the main parties in the new unitary authority shares our view that it is wrong that different parts of the county are being treated in different ways when it comes to car parking charges.
"We would urge all political parties, in particular those councillors representing constituencies that are being unfairly treated, to speak out against this unfair situation and join our campaign for an equal charging policy across the county."
