Today I met Cllr Glen Sanderson at County Hall to discuss car parking at Morpeth station. We are agreed that extra provision is necessary and it seems the Council are planning to create 30 or so extra spaces. I explained that I believe a much more ambitious scheme is needed given the number of trains at Morpeth will double from next year. I am hopeful the Council will now seriously look at this. However, the thorny issue of charges also needed to be discussed. In short, the Council will introduce these. I outlined my concerns, namely the cost of getting to work for regular commuters (the Council have an annual pass which sounded good value for money) and the fact that now the precedent for charges is established, Northern can increase the charges in their car park at any time and this aspect of their business is neither regulated nor subject to democratic scrutiny.
