Exhibition on Lymington High Street car parking charge plan set for St Barbe Museum in late September

THE public will get the chance to have their say on controversial proposals to bring in parking meters to Lymington High Street at a four-day exhibition later this month.

A display will go at St Barbe Museum from Monday 20th September to the 24th, between 10.30am and 3.30pm daily.

"There will be display boards in the window so that people can view them from the street at any time during those five days," a Hampshire County Council spokesperson said.

"The display materials will include the details of an online form that people can use to submit their comments and feedback. There will also be a comment form available at the venue which people can complete."

HCC added the Conservative county council’s cabinet member for highways operations, Cllr Russell Oppenheimer, will meet with members of Lymington Town Council over the proposal once the exhibition has concluded.

As reported in the A&T the county council took back responsibility for traffic management from New Forest District Council in 2019 and it intended to reduce the current one-hour free parking to 30 minutes, with two hours chargeable.

HCC has defended the charges as "modest", said the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions has created more demand for town centre parking and claimed pay-and-display parking schemes are “becoming the norm” in the majority of cities and towns across the UK.

But Lymington town councillors are unhappy as they claimed the policy will damage local businesses just as they try to recover in the wake of the crippling coronavirus pandemic.

Cllr Barry Dunning, the Tory county councillor for Lymington and Boldre since winning the seat in the May local elections, is standing against his party’s administration. The Lymington Society is also opposed, as are a number of traders – including Neil Welker, director of Elliott’s.