Thirty minutes free parking not restored.

Residents Association councillors at the full council meeting on Wednesday 22nd of January, put forward a motion to bring back the free 30 minutes parking.

The motion was defeated by councillors and the removal of the free 30 minutes remains.

Leader of the opposition Councillor Ray Morgon has today spoken to the Havering Daily: “We put the motion and once again the Tories have defeated us. They are hoping this problem will go away but it won’t. The issue of parking will get worse.

“We saw a significant drop in footfall last year. Between June to September last year in Hornchurch there were 98,000 less visits to shops. For the same period in Upminster there were 74,000 less visits to the shops.

“This clearly shows that there is a drop in footfall, which will mean a drop in profits. Our high streets are suffering and this problem is only going to get worse.

“There are a lot of warning signs here we need to take note of. The drop in footfall will have a drop in profit and the drop in profit will then eventually affect the business rates.

“Our retail is struggling, we need to do everything we can to support them.”

Even if the Resident Association motion had been voted in by councillors it would not have bought back the free thirty minutes as councillors did not have the ability to do this at this meeting.

However, next month sees the budget proposal where councillors will have the opportunity to vote on the financial proposals where the opposition party need to find £770,000 in savings to be able to bring the free thirty minutes back.