Letter: Uppermill Parking
Below is a letter to the editor sent by Uppermill business owner and resident Nick Watts. It’s addressed to all of the by-election candidates, and has been copied to Saddleworth News too. I’ve reproduced the letter in full.
If you would like to respond to the points made in the letter, you can either leave a comment below this post, or send an e-mail by clicking on the Contact option at the top of this page. If you would like an e-mail published on this website then please mark it as a letter to the editor, and I’ll be happy to do so.
“Dear Oldham East and Saddleworth Candidates,
“First, let me start by saying that I have not yet decided who to vote for. You may have recently heard about the local issue of parking in Uppermill. This is an issue that affects myself and many other people who will be voting for you.
“In a very short time, I was able to raise a petition with over 750 signatures against the proposed restrictions, and there were definitely some other people who were quite strongly in favour of them as well!
“On December 16th, the TRO panel approved the proposed restrictions, and although they read the petition and knew there were over 750 signatures on it, they chose to ignore it rather than delay any decision until they could investigate the matter further.
“Some candidates promised to look into this matter – but did not respond. Others did look into it and offered me some good support – but let’s put all of that in the past.
“I’m open minded here and would like to give each of you a fair chance to have a comment. So I’d like to ask each of you please, if elected, what would you actually do about parking in Uppermill?
“Just to clarify, I’m not looking for party political statements, or your thoughts on how councils, governments or other parties should behave. I’d just like to know what you would actually *do* about parking for the residents and businesses in Uppermill – if you got the chance please?
“In the interest of sharing your responses one way or another (or lack of comment) with the 750 people who signed the petition and anyone else who is interested, I will publish your responses on my website: www.uppermillparking.co.uk ”
Nick Watts
Author: Jude Gidney - Editor
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13 Comments
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Congratulations Nick, For keeping this issue alive and well !!! During a high profile By-Election this issue is an important one for the people of Saddleworth, keep up the good work.
Ed Milliband was making a speech in the area today, but I still can’t see the Labour reply to this issue on the dedicated campaign website. Funny that. Well done Nick for all your efforts.
Keep at ’em Nick
[…] I’ve been trying to get in touch with the Oldham East and Saddleworth Candidates about Parking (see the Letter in Saddleworth News) […]
So why is this paper saying you’ve declared your support for the Tory candidate ?
So far,
Responses from:
Stephen Morris (English Democrats)
Loz Kaye (Pirate Party)
Kashif Ali (Conservatives)
See www.uppermillparking.co.uk for their answers
Tim, Just to clarify, Nick’s earlier statement issued via the Conservatives didn’t say that he would definitely be voting for them, it merely praised Kashif Ali’s support for him over the Uppermill parking issue.
[…] You can read the original letter in Saddleworth News […]
Well done Nick for keeping this very important local issue in focus. The proposed parking restrictions will most certainly affect local residents and businesses. How unfortunate you were not given the opportunity to voice the concerns of everyone who signed the petition. As you were advised to present any objections in this form. Let us all hope that whichever candidate is elected to represent the area that they listen and perform for local people.
I advise anyone concerned about the implications of what these parking controls could bring to read page 3 of to- days Oldham Chronicle.
Suddenly it emerges that the Council needs £250.000 to repair car-parks in the borough and an extra £40,000 per year to maintain them – and have no funds to do it.
As well as the woeful lack of public consultation on this issue I have always been worried that there may be an hidden agenda – charges – and once it starts in our car parks it will spread to on-street parking as well.
I think these are wholly legitimate concerns and well done Nick for sticking with this issue and not getting diverted by the personal abuse and the usual ‘smoke and mirrors’ that passes for decision making around here.
[…] can read Loz’s prompt response to my original letter on the Uppermill Parking web […]
[…] every by election there are some hot local topics – e.g. Uppermill parking. If the LibDems wanted to control this topic in Twitter they could add the hashtag […]
So who were the other three that replied yo your letter?