Dacorum Council Misses the Bus - But Defends an Englishman's Right to a Car!

Conservative-controlled Dacorum Borough Council is giving planning permission to retailer after retailer in Berkhamsted - without any significant extra parking being required or provided. The Conservatives keep talking about their plans to put an extra deck over an existing car park in Berkhamsted - at huge expense. But at last night's council meeting, when Cllr Rosemarie Hollinghurst asked when this would happen - they couldn't exactly say, just vaguely mumbling that they were "expecting a planning application 'in the new year'".

Later in the meeting, Cllr Nick Hollinghurst pointed out that 6 or 7 years ago Dacorum used to match county council bus support with 25p for every £ the county spent. Then Dacorum cut out their contributions to public transport completely. "Now", Cllr Hollinghurst told the meeting, "we have such a bad parking problem in Berkhamsted that people are driving round the town trying to find a parking place - then giving up and driving to Aylesbury 15 miles away!"

"Should not Dacorum recognise it's mistake," he asked Cllr Nick Tiley the Dacorum councillor reponsible for finance, "and restore support for bus transport to free up the roads and the car parks?" "Oh, no", responded Cllr Nick Tiley, "Dacorum would never go back to paying to support bus transport".

Cllr Tiley doesn't mind spending millions on a decked car park, mind you! He then went on to say that Cllr Nick Hollinghurst was talking "poppycock!" and finally, in a rousing tour de force, Cllr Tiley declared with apparent pride that "Nothing would separate an Englishman from his car!"

Oh, well done Cllr Tiley, Sir! Spoken like a true blue Tory!