Worshippers get extra parking spaces
CHURCHES in central Ipswich have given a mixed welcome to the news that worshippers are to be given free Sunday parking spaces.Ipswich council is to issue 23 free parking spaces to town centre churches to allow members of their congregations to park for Sunday services.
CHURCHES in central Ipswich have given a mixed welcome to the news that worshippers are to be given free Sunday parking spaces.
Ipswich council is to issue 23 free parking spaces to town centre churches to allow members of their congregations to park for Sunday services.
That is the number of parking spaces in the Elm Street, Black Horse Lane, Princes Street
and Old Foundry Road area.
It will be up to the churches themselves to decide who should have the parking permits, which will be valid on Sundays up to 1pm.
Several vicars, priests, and ministers lobbied the council when the proposal to charge for Sunday parking was first announced.
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Rev David Blatherwick, minister of the Museum Street Methodist Church, said the proposal sounded like a reasonable compromise for churches in that area.
"We are grateful that the council has listened to our concerns," he said.
At St Mary at Elms, church warden Jenny Hinchley said the proposal would cause administrative problems.
"It will also cause problems for visitors to the area who want to come to the church and for those who aren't regulars here," she said.
Ipswich council spokeswoman, Penny Breakwell, said the compromise was as good as the borough was able to offer churches in the area.
"We recognise their importance for the town, and we are proposing to give them as many permits as there are parking spaces," she said.
