A new group has been formed to fight the parking proposals for Keswick’s back streets.
Keswick Parking Action Committee (KPAC) consists of seven guesthouses and a number of local residents.
They say they are alarmed at the serious impact the permit-parking plans could have on Keswick.
It has called for highways authority Cumbria County Council to immediately suspend the consultation deadline of Sunday.
It also wants the county council to honour a pledge made in 2019 that those living and working in the back streets would be given a democratic vote on any permit-parking scheme.
KPAC has described the consultation process as seriously flawed and said the referendum pledge had been omitted from the consultation.
Spokesman Clive Hutchby, a former regional daily newspaper editor who lives in Leonard Street, said: “People in Keswick are being invited to have their say on the parking permit proposals – all of which are included on the online page on the county council’s website – but with none of the evidence, opinions, statistics or financial costs of the scheme having been presented.
“It’s a case of ‘we’ve done the due diligence because we’re from the council, just trust our judgement’.”
“KPAC believes that local businesses and residents should have access to all the information in the possession of the county council so they can make their own judgement, and that being deprived of that access means the consultation process is a farce. Consequently it may even be illegal.”
The group believes Keswick Town Council should support its call for full transparency and an extended three-months consultation period
