XN000022-1972-03-29 — Page 16

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Wednesday, March 29, 1972

INTRODUCTION OF NEW PARKING CHARGES TO BE DEFERRED

Announcement By Financial Secretary

The Financial Secretary, the Hon. C.P. Haddon-Cave, suggested that

the new parking charges be deferred for a month or two.

He said this in the Legislative Council today when the debate on the

Budget was resumed.

"When I proposed the increased car parking charges in the Budget Speech

I was at pains to stress that they did form part of our overall thinking and

that they were only a beginning," he said.

"However, as Honourable Members seem to be reluctant to see even

the early beginnings of a restraints policy in the context of an overall policy

along the lines I have described, I can only suggest that the introduction of

the new charges be deferred for a month or two," he added.

In themselves, and at the new levels now proposed, car parking charges

might not ease road congestion by discouraging the use of cars for certain

types of journeys, he said.

"But this is their ultimate objective and this means that higher

charges as well as other measures will have to be considered in due course,"

he said.

"Perhaps we all tend to think of higher parking charges as a means of

equating the demand for with the supply of parking spaces," he added.

In fact, the resource which was in really short supply and which, unlike

parking spaces, was incapable of expansion in certain areas, was road space,

he stressed.

"If the polley