Charges for resident parking approved

At the council’s Executive Committee meeting, the charge of £5 per year for two years was approved for resident parking permits in six areas.

The Labour group did propose to keep the zones and abolish the fee, but the majority of councillors voted in favour of the charge.

Resident permit parking zones are located in areas with high demand for parking including in town centres or near train stations to allow residents and their visitors to park easily.

Areas with these zones in South Lanarkshire include 144 households in Cambuslang, 169 in Carluke, 2279 in East Kilbride, 932 in Hamilton, 744 in Rutherglen and 18 in Uddingston.

A consultation was carried out asking the 4286 households whether they wished to keep the permit zones with the £5 yearly charge for the next two years or if they wished to abolish the zones completely.

A total of 32 per cent of those asked responded and 81 per cent of those households chose the option to pay the £5 per year.

Twelve households indicated on the consultation that they wished to remain part of the zone but not pay the administration charge.

The Labour group called out the consultation saying there should have been an option to keep the zones, but remove the charge.

Clydesdale North councillor Catherine McClymont said: “I thought that the actual consultation was disingenuous,. You either pay or you lose it – no wonder you only got 32 per cent responses.

“That’s not a consultation. I feel that the consultation was very poor and I just want to make that point.”

Clydesdale East councillor Alex Allison spoke in favour of the consultation and the charge, saying: “80 per cent of respondents have agreed with it, so why would we do anything else?

"We’ve had the best response a consultation has ever had so I don’t see how it can be described as a poor consultation with 32 percent of people responding.”

A total of 21 councillors voted in favour of the charge with seven voting to scrap the fee and keep the zones.