ANOTHER recommendation by the overview and scrutiny board in the short sharp review was that older people’s parking passes be brought back.
The permits for the over 65s were originally free but then cost those who had them £35-a-year.
After that, rather than increasing the price further, the passes were controversially scrapped by the district council.
The board’s calls for those passes to be made available again has been welcomed by the organisation which represents the over 60s in the district.
The permits were originally free but
Speaking to The Standard, Carol Tipping, the chair of the Bromsgrove Forum for Older People, said she thought it was a brilliant idea and, she said, she knew a lot of the forum members who would be pleased if the passes were reintroduced.
“We had several meetings with the council leader at the time the passes were withdrawn and he knew very well how we felt.
“And a lot of older people at the time said they would boycot the town centre because they did not want to pay for parking each time.
“Eric Pickles (the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government ) has said that councils should not be making money from car parking.
“It was fair to say that the cost of the passes at the time was cheap but a lot of people said they would be happy if the price of the passes went up.
“There are quite a few members of the forum who go to different regular clubs in the town centre and it would be useful for them.”
