By Community Correspondent Joel Nulsen

Politicians have lost much of the public’s trust over the years, and don’t seem set to become national heroes any time soon. Perhaps the news that the House of Lords has rejected a motion to scrap plans to implement parking charges in Richmond Park and Bushy Park comes as no surprise, then.

It was in the first half of the 1600s that King Charles I made the Royal Parks open to the public, free of charge. Since then, no successful attempt has been made to introduce fees of any kind on use of the park, whether for thoroughfare or for recreational use.

When Margaret Hodge MP announced plans to charge £1 an hour for parking in Richmond and Bushy Parks, she faced overwhelming opposition from residents. Up to 2000 people attended a rally in Richmond Park, and 6000 have signed a petition against the scheme. While some believe that a go-ahead with the plans is unlikely after such an emphatic response, the Upper House’s vote of 48 to 71 for the motion, which would have stopped any plans to use parking charges, seems just as clear in its support of the scheme.

The Royal Parks claims that the parking charges are necessary to generate revenue for plans to upgrade car parks and implement traffic calming measures, which are estimated to cost just under £3m. However, Vince Cable MP voiced his concerns over the matter, saying “In practice, I fear that parks are likely to jack up the charges once they have their system in place.” It has also been suggested that any revenue generated would be negligible when costs of ticket machines, traffic wardens and decreased use of the car parks due to the charges themselves are factored in.

As the debate continues, residents are feeling ever more defeated in their efforts to oppose the charges, and this decision appears to mark the government’s unwillingness to give ground on the issue.

However, perhaps there is hope. Lord Howard, a Conservative Member, said “If a Conservative government is elected on May 6 this order (to introduce fees) will be rescinded and the charges annulled.” In the grand scheme of things, it seems that the only thing residents can be sure of in the time ahead is uncertainty.