A few weeks ago, the Council’s Labour/Green cabinet published the long-awaited review into car parking in Monmouthshire. We were expecting bold recommendations about charging structures, Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology and some free parking to help our high streets – but incredulously the conclusion was to recommend another review.

The car parking review was one of the big projects that was scheduled for mid-2022 just after the last local elections, but the incoming administration delayed it until 2025. It was intended to make recommendations about how our car parks can support economic activity in our towns. We expected it to examine the charging structure which varies considerably across the county. Some towns like Caldicot and Usk have free parking, while council car parks in Monmouth, Chepstow and Abergavenny charge around £2 for two hours between 8am and 6pm and are free in the evenings and cheaper on Sundays. This seems unfair but the council would need to avoid unintended consequences of making sudden changes, hence the review.

We could be ensuring there are adequate spaces for disabled people, parents with children or to charge electric vehicles. We should be building solar canopies above our car parks, just like the council delivered in its own car park in Magor a few years ago. These are essentially a structure built over parking spaces with solar panels mounted on top to generate renewable energy and provide shade for parked vehicles.

We should also be looking at Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology so motorists pay for their parking at the end rather than the start so they can spend more time on our high streets and not need to leave because their parking ticket has expired.

It seems incredible to taxpayers that a review undertaken by external consultants could cost £28,000 and recommend another review, concluding that there are no county-wide solutions. Given how different our towns are in their offer to shoppers and tourists, surely it’s obvious that car parking plans would need to be bespoke. The high street vacancy rate between our towns also varies considerably, but businesses and restaurants still need the council to promote footfall.

With only 15 months left before the next council elections and cabinet members openly telling people they won’t be around after that, this feels like the can is being kicked down the road.

Car parking regimes have the potential to support footfall on our high streets but sadly this review feels like a missed opportunity.