You will have read that Babergh has had to make the difficult and controversial decision to consider implementing short-term parking charges in our car parks in Sudbury, Hadleigh and Lavenham (they are already in place in Pin Mill).

Pin Mill car park has never been free (Picture: Nub News)

Now that we have embarked on this, I want to set the context for this now. 

There has, inevitably, been a lot of disinformation and focus on the wrong things, but we do need to be clear that this is both necessary and fair. 

The primary driver for this is the need to balance our budget at Babergh District Council.

This year the challenges being faced by councils across the country are severe – much worse than the normally difficult budget-setting process. We have been faced by high inflation, high interest rates and a greater than expected national pay award. These factors, coupled with continuing squeezes of government funding, mean that our budget pressures are of a different scale from those we have faced in previous years.

We will be looking at full cost recovery for all our discretionary services, which will mean significant increases for some of them. Parking has remained an anomaly, where an element of this (short-term) has remained free in most of our car parks. Our car parks cost a lot to run – an estimated £427k (after taking into account current income) this financial year.

This is no longer sustainable and we need to include modest short-term charges where they haven't previously existed.

These are not the only measures we will be undertaking to balance the budget: we have identified and will continue to identify further savings we can make in how we do things and we will postpone some capital projects, but we do want to try to maintain the services that many people want and value. I don't want these services to be reduced or removed just to maintain 'free parking' for some.

Across the country councils are struggling: some have issued bankruptcy notices and other may well follow in the coming months. All, irrespective of political control, are critical of the current local government financing regime, which is no longer fit for purpose. A long-term settlement has been promised and postponed for many years. We have already seen the latest announcement from Suffolk CC about their cuts. 

I do understand that this proposal is not liked by many of those who use the car parks, but we also have to consider the many who don't and who might have to lose something. We will only be introducing small charges – £1 for three hours is likely in Hadleigh – but this will help a lot and should be a sensible balance between the needs and desires of all our residents, while reassuring those who fear that there could be an impact on high street businesses. 

We will be consulting with the relevant town and parish councils regarding the specific tariff details that should apply to each of them, but we also committed to engaging with communities across the whole district. We feel that, although many residents don't live near to and use these car parks, they do pay council tax and benefit from all our services and therefore have an interest in this matter.

We would like to know if you think we have made the right choice to protect the services that you need and cherish. I encourage all parish councils in Babergh to let their views be known via either their district councillor or me so that your views can be included when we make the final decision.