W A EATOCK is right to point out in his letter in last week's Review that residents of Coleford will be hard hit by the planned introduction of parking charges. Quite how hard was unclear until I spoke to the council last week.

Up till this morning (when the council admitted it had made a mistake), the new parking charges 'system' due to start in July, obliged resident Colefordians who were blue badge holders to move their cars every three hours during the day, or to receive a parking charge. That would have meant blue badge car owners having to outwit the traffic wardens three times a day (potentially 10,098 times a year!), or boost the council coffers even further if they were late, delayed or unavoidably held up. An unimaginable degree of stress.

Non blue badge residents permits will cost £312 per annum for 24 hour parking seven days a week. That's to begin with, of course, and it will go up. For those without income, who through disability do not have career choices others have, who are retired or unemployed, £312 per annum is way beyond their means. With rising fuel costs and living expenses, most people are already stretched beyond what they can manage.

I asked to see the Equality Impact Assessment (EIA): the document the council is required to produce that is supposed to assess any negative impact on vulnerable social groups, such as the elderly or disabled, of the council's policies.

In answer to question 8 on the EIA ('Does your consultation and/or research indicate that a particular group of people could be affected differentially in either a positive or negative way?' the council confidently answers no – no groups would be negatively afftected by the parking charges. Did they consult any blue badge holders, or any of the elderly or disabled residents of Coleford at all when compiling the EIA?

Neither was there any mention of disabled people from Coleford whose lives will be affected by these parking charges having been consulted or asked in question 6 ('Please provide details of any consultation activity, eg satisfaction survey, focus groups, citizen panel used for this assessment) or 7 of the EIA (Please provide details of any other research/evidence used for this assessment).

I am concerned at the council's apparent lack of transparency and respect for a democratic process generally in the issue of parking fees, especially as it affects disabled and vulnerable people, and would like to hear from anyone who feels the same on [email protected]">[email protected]

– J Blakey.