Party politics paralyses city (From South Wales Argus)

This is a very good letter. We live in hope.

If you can afford the car you can afford to pay to park it. Stop looking for freebies. As for the councillor, if he did not want the electoral backing of a political party he should not have taken it.

Stand as an independent and get elected fine. Stand for a party and get elected, even better. But of you change your mind the only honest position is to resign and go back to the electorate.

The issue isn't so much about "freebies" it is about demonstrating support for the city centre. If you are in the game of trying to get investment and confidence back into the city centre you must use every lever at your disposal.

The Council cannot determine commercial decisions where businesses locate but it can improve the environment where they operate. The free car parking lead to an increase in footfall in the city centre.

That's important in attracting investment. Its about being joined up in your thinking.

As for the savings, the council's own calculations from axing the parking charges have now been considerably revised downwards. Originally it was £900,000 - latest figures suggest £250,000. Unsurprisingly, there hasn't been an explanation from those on the inside for the slight amendment.

Mr Aston, a very good letter asking a serious question. I find it hard to understand that if I have an issue with something that affects me locally then I go to my local councillor. He/She will then raise the issue with other councillors but if the leaders and the rest are not happy then you are knocked back, so why vote someone in whether that be Labour, Con Lib Dem if once eleceted do what they want and not listen to the citizens, really baffling. As for On The Inside well you really are out of touch with the people of Newport. Mr Evans who actually abstained is a man of integrity and a man I believe honesty, he must have been as surprised as everyone when he found that he cannot make a blind bit of difference to Newport unless Bob and the rest say so. Newport is back in the age of Dinosaur Councillors, but times have moved on and people are more up to speed with the likes of the internet etc, I just hope that more councillors who have been recently elected stand up to the leadership and move Newport forward. Or we really will go back to the Jurassic age.

Answer in order for council to function it needs clear leadership Independents are not capable of providing any leadership, the name Independent implies that would be and are Independent thefore they have no collective core values or goals its everyone for themselves in short Chaos

Nig, you really don't get it! Think for one minute instead of defending probably the party you are part of or support. Why can you not be part of a party if thats what you say, but not be allowed to say what you feel or what the electorate have asked you to do. Are you saying that Bob and the rest are right all the time and the residents are wrong? As for independents you only have to look at what Noel Trigg and his team have done at Bettws, a man who stood up for his ward and beliefs and had to leave the Labour Party because of it, they did not want to hear what the people were saying. You do not need everyone to be independent but by christ it would make a difference to Newport,it could not be any worse than it is now! I feel looking at local council, politics should not come into it and you should be allowed to vote for what is best for the Town not what someone has told you to vote. I would love Chris Evans to leave Labour and blow the lid on what he has seen in the past 9-10 months and how he feels about becoming a councillor only to find that it was not what he expected due to the people in charge. As for Newport being in Chaos your final comment, is it not now? Parking fee row, Music lesson support, Gipsy site issue, Less council meetings to question leadership, written questions only submitted in advance so the leadership can have pre-prepared answers, Free party for all elected last May all Labour candidates by the way I could go on and on, it is a complete shambles and does not look like getting any better. I end with Votefornoneoftheabov
e, why? They don't deserve it or make a difference for the £850000 it's costing the taxpayers of Newport.

No car parking is Free. It has to be paid for.

The question is should local council tax payers pay for Free car parking when many of them may not even have a car and may well be less well of then those that have a car or even two cars

I think the answer is clearly no. Cost of parking should be kept to the minimum and if shops wish to subsidise car parking that is down to them.

Where councils provide car parking they should not profit from it. It should be provided at cost

Probably the best way for shops to provide Free of discounted parking is with a loyalty type scheme where their customers earn points towards parking for every pound they spend in a shop

Due to the vastly differnt tills and systems they use it may have to be a paper system. Mambe they issue the customer with parking points stamps

Possibly it could be extended to bus services so those that come to Newport by bus could get a small discount on the bus fare.