WITH clamour over proposals to charge for car parking reaching a crescendo, the three Forest towns now hope they can prove that the move is illegal.

The clerk of Lydney Town Council, Jayne Smailes, says she speaks for Coleford and Cinderford in calling on the Forest of Dean District Council (FODDC) to formally review its proposal.

She is this week presenting a 7.000-signature petition to FODDC together with a letter pointing out the stated intention is raising extra revenue from parking – something the government has forbidden.

"A government minister has already recently stressed to local authorities that where charges are used to raise revenue or as a local tax it is unlikely to be lawful," she states.

In a sense the parking charges would be back door taxes to raise revenue at a time the government was seeking to freeze local authority taxes including council tax.

And she points out that Cirencester Town Council in the Cotswolds has appointed a barrister to see if it can prompt a judicial revue, "action that we feel confident other town and parish councils, including our own, will seek to mirror."

Last week a call-in meeting on the FODDC parking proposals decided: "The Strategic Overview and Scrutiny Committee has concerns regarding the Cabinet decision to introduce car park charging (in the main Forest towns) and recommends that the proposals be referred back to the Cabinet and that a full scrutiny of the detail of car park charging be undertaken as a matter of urgency.

"This will now go back to the council on October 13 and if they agree Scrutiny will look at the detail of car park charging."

The matter will also be discussed by full council on Thursday this week.