Sep 22 - GSD Concerned By “Government’s Epic Parking Fail”
The GSD spokesman for Traffic and Transport, Selwyn Figueras, has today offered a damning assessment of the Government's track record on Traffic. The GSD notes the growing level of concern at the many difficulties being experienced by users of Gibraltar’s traffic network, not least in the context of the shortage of parking in the town area.
Town area residents, says the GSD, complain of being unable ever to use their cars, even if only for the weekly shop “for fear of losing their parking and then being unable to find another space on their return.” According to the party, others complain that they are unable to park when driving in from other areas to attend work and, more recently and in the context of work on the new £23 million small boat berth marina having begun, the GSD says it is hearing complaints that boat owners with boats at Coaling Island are these days unable to park anywhere near the marina.
"Responsibility for all these difficulties lies entirely with the Government: they embarked upon the Commonwealth Park, having promised to deliver twice the number of car parking spaces underneath it but never delivering on this promise and, to compound the difficulties, set about building the affordable homes in the former coach park site. They have since been playing an expensive game of musical chairs with car and coach parking and it is a game that will likely go on for some time. In the last couple of weeks, with the vacation of both former Naval Grounds for the purposes of development, the driver's plight is as bad as it has ever been.”
The GSD says that complainants rightly ask - 'what happened with that fantastic plan? What is the Government waiting for?'
Selwyn Figueras continued; "it's all a bit of a mystery and it is unfair on this community that they're holding it back for the purposes of using it at the next election - if good ideas have emerged from the experts' review, put them into effect! The Government, clearly uninspired to think outside the box for itself, appears to be holding back the Sustainable Traffic and Transport Management plan to be able use the initiatives to fill pages in their manifesto for the 2015 election."
Once more, says the Opposition, the Minister shows that he is putting party before country and will “likely try to deflect responsibility to the GSD every time the issue is raised.” The GSD calls on the Minister to “accept responsibility for his failings and to publish and implement the Sustainable Traffic and Transport Plan now!”
