The cost of parking in Lichfield on evenings and weekends will be debated by councillors tonight – but the public will not be able to attend.
A meeting of Lichfield District Council’s overview and scrutiny committee will discuss possible changes to the tariff tonight (June 20).
But the related agenda item has been classified as private, meaning members of the public and the media will be excluded at that stage and will therefore be unable to hear the discussions or any possible changes.
The agenda states that to allow non-councillors would be “prejudicial to the public interest”.
Councillors have previously debated – in public – proposals for changes to car parking charges, with plans for blue badge holders to pay ditched last year.
In January 2016, Lichfield District Council unveiled plans, which were later dropped, to increase the charging hours to 8pm, while just a few months later it was revealed that rises to parking tariffs could see the local authority rake in an additional £200,000 a year.
However, tonight’s discussion over evening and weekend car parking charges will be behind closed doors.
After LichfieldLive questioned the decision not to make the issue public, Craig Jordan, head of economic growth at Lichfield District Council, said: “This evening councillors will consider issues concerning our car parking charging regime as it applies to Lichfield City.
“As there are issues which are also relevant to on-going discussions about the Friarsgate scheme, which are commercially sensitive, the debate will not be open to the public or press.”
