Margaret Hodge stangely states reason for charges is to bring Bushy Park in line with Central London parks
Strange reasoning:
Dr Vince Cable asked Margaret Hodge in parliament on Monday (18-01-10):
This morning, the Minister of State wrote to me about her unpopular decision to introduce car parking charges for the use of royal parks. Will she explain how the environmental objective of reducing the flow of traffic through those beautiful parks is helped by singling out a very small percentage of users—mainly local people—who go there specifically to walk?
Margaret Hodge replied:
Car park charges are being introduced in the two parks, so that there are car park charges in all the royal parks across the whole of the capital...
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What we say:
Central London Parks
Hyde Park and Regents Park are Central London Parks.
They are completely different to Bushy (and Richmond) Parks in their very nature.
They are metropolitan, city centre parks.
They have excellent public transport links. Car parking in the vicinity is very difficult and expensive and so charges are necessary as a deterrent.
Park users are typically tourists, nearby lunching office workers or joggers and other keep-fitters.
Rural Deer-hunting Parks
By contrast Bushy Park is rural in nature. It is family park where people with children, dogs, push chairs and associated paraphernalia visit. Public transport is available but of a quality found in the outer suburbs, not the centre of the capital city of the UK.
Ignored Invitation
Evidently Margaret Hodge doesn't understand this. We have invited her to Bushy Park so that we might show her around and explain the issues yet she has completely ignored our offer.