Rise in parking charges proposed for Longford Town from August

Financial Director of the Longford County Council John McKeon raised the matter of proposed paid parking charges at last week's Longford Municipal District meeting.

The increased parking charges are set to be introduced in order to generate funding for the pavement renovations in Longford town.

The proposal saw mixed reactions throughout the chamber. Councillors Kevin Hussey and Martin Monaghan were strongly against the plan as both business owners and from the perspective of the cost of living crisis.

“As a retailer, I strongly oppose raising the charges,” said Cllr Monaghan.

“It’s costing a worker in the town working five days a week an extra 15 euros in their pocket.”

Currently, the fee for one hour is €1, the proposed changes wish to see this raised to €1.50.

Short term and minimum fares will remain the same.

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Resident's permits however will be seeing an increase from €50 per annum to €75.

Cllr Monaghan believes this will be incredibly detrimental to businesses in the town.

“We’re already under pressure from price hikes all over.

“This would be another death by 1000 cuts.”

Cllr Hussey supported his Fianna Fáil colleague saying, “Anyone who runs a business in Longford knows it’s very hard to do, Marting said everything.

“We have to look after our people in Longford.

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“We were elected for a reason. “It wouldn’t be right and a lot of businesses could close down.”

Cllr Uruemu Adejimni took an opposing stance and proposed the adoption of the charge increase.

“A lot of work needs to be done around the town especially footpaths in estates in Longford MD are long overdue.

“These paths haven’t been updated in over a decade.”

She also pointed out that the parking charges in Longford town are currently the lowest in the Midlands. “And it might be the lowest in the country as well.”

Uruemu concluded her proposal stating “I would be in favour od implementing these charges to help with overdue developments.”

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She thanked Mr Branigan and his team for their hard work.

Councillor Peggy Nolan was the next to voice her opinion.

“The upgrades of our paths is urgently required.

“There is no funding available.”

The belief is that the funding generated from the raised charges will bridge the gap between the available funding for renovations and the €175k needed to pull it off.

“It won’t make a huge impact if people can see it’s being spent in the town for betterment.

“Could we hold off on this until August and come back to it and I’m sure the rest of the council will allow this.”

The motion was put to a vote, Councillors Nolan, Hussey, Monaghan and Gannon all voted to suspend the price hike until August.

Cllrs Adejinmi and Butler voted against.

The charges will not change until August.