Milton Keynes Council leader, Cllr Pete Marland, has said that there is "zero evidence" that free parking would help retail in Central Milton Keynes.
This controversial statement follows the news that the Conservative Group has launched a petition to achieve free parking for all in CMK.
The campaign, which has reached over 1,000 signatures, aims to help attract shoppers back as Milton Keynes’ economy begins to recover from lockdown.
Before lockdown, footfall across Xscape, intu and the centre:mk had dropped by 8 million people over the past four years with the cost of parking being cited as a major factor.
Cllr Marland, however, disputes this. He said: "There is zero evidence free parking would do anything to help retail or the city centre.
"What it would do is strip the council of money to spend on services. While I’m not surprised the petition has attracted, albeit low, numbers of signatures, you can probably get anyone to sign most things if you are offering them free stuff with no consequences. However the idea is a really, really bad use of resources and setting priorities."
Leader of the Conservative Group, Cllr Alex Walker, believes that free parking is a key way to kickstart the city's recovery. He commented: "We need to be doing everything possible to support local businesses and jobs and offering free parking is one avenue to do just that.
"We are aware of the hit to council parking revenue, but frankly if CMK doesn’t get itself back on its feet we will lose businesses and jobs.”
Cllr Marland disagrees and states that free parking would do "nothing" to boost the local economy. He concluded: "It would do nothing to help the local economy and shows the MK Conservatives have no real grasp of the situation. They have no real plans for the economic challenges that lie ahead as they up with the same old uninspiring stuff. It is gesture politics and lacks the seriousness required to recover from Covid-19 in MK.”
